Canisius College

Barbara Irwin, PhD, chair of the Communication Studies Department and director of the Video Institute shows off the "Best of Show" award

The Buffalo/Niagara chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) presented the Canisius College Video Institute with a Gold Excalibur Award and a Platinum Excalibur Award, or "Best of Show," at the annual awards dinner on June 19 at the Buffalo Launch Club. The Platinum Award is PRSA's highest honor. This is the second year in a row that the college has won this prestigious award. Last year, the public relations team earned a Platinum Excalibur for their promotional efforts of a staged reading of The Disputation. In all, Canisius received a gold, a silver and two bronze awards.

Barbara Irwin, PhD, chair of the Communication Studies Department and director of the Video Institute, received this year’s Platinum Award for Central Terminal: Saving a Buffalo Landmark, a 30-minute video documentary produced for the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation (CTRC). The Central Terminal video was produced by digital media arts majors Kirsten Jahn ’07 and Scott Richardson ’09 under Irwin’s direction. The documentary traces the history of the Central Terminal, its architectural and social significance and the efforts of the CTRC to bring the building back to life.

The Video Institute also received a Silver Excalibur Award for a video documentary produced for the St. Augustine & St. Monica Scholars Program.

To view the entire Central Terminal documentary in iTunes, click here. To view the St. Augustine & St. Monica documentary in iTunes, click here. You will need the iTunes software installed on your computer to view both documentaries.

The Canisius College Video Institute provides students with the opportunity to put their classroom lessons to work on projects that will benefit the college and the community at large. Students produce documentaries and promotional videos for local and international not-for-profit and service agencies that otherwise would not have the resources to tell their stories in this way.

The Canisius College Video Institute is funded in part by the John R. Oishei Foundation. To read more about it, click here.

Date released: 6/20/2008