Keynote Speaker

Alfred Cervantes

Jury

Juror 1: Raheel Ramzanali 
Houston native and sports commentator Raheel Ramzanali is the area's first Pakistani sports radio host. Active in Houston media since 2007, Raheel is known for work with ESPN Houston, 1560 The Game, and ABC-13's digital team. Currently Raheel is the host of the podcast, City Cast Houston. He also does play-by-play for Fury Fighting Championship on UFC Fight Pass.

 Juror 2: Stephen Herman

Screenwriter Stephen Herman co-writer, Black Box (2020, Blumhouse Productions and Amazon Studios). Inspired by Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone, busy screenwriter Stephen Herman is known for intense, unsettling psychological thrillers.  His original horror script, "The Culling" was acquired by Lionsgate with David F. Sandberg ("Shazam!") attached to direct. Stephen also is currently adapting feature film scripts with New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures, and has another feature length film expected to begin shooting in 2025.

 Juror 3: Andrea August

Lead Designer at Daito Design, an international digital design firm specializing in creating and refining user interface and user experience, Andrea August is also an immigrant and proud alumna of the University of Houston's design program. The strong foundation she received at UH nurtured a flexible, multidisciplinary approach which has enabled her to evolve alongside the ever-changing design industry. Her unique blend of experiences deeply informs her appreciation for emerging creative talent, particularly work that challenges conventional boundaries and reflects the diverse voices that make Houston's creative community exceptional. At Daito, Andrea works with both ambitious startups and established enterprise companies to create meaningful user experiences.

Congratulations to this year’s winners of the MMI Student Prize Competition!

 

2024 MMI Student Prize Competition

Now in its fifth year, the MMI Student Prize Competition recognizes student work in media studies-related fields. Our competition is notable in having three different competition categories—Critical, Creative, and Applied—in order to recognize the variety of different media-related work on campus. For a montage of all of this year's submissions, view here: 2024 MMI Student Prize Ceremony Montage. 

Student Prize Competition Winners

• Applied Technologies
  
  
  • Winner: Streamline by Amina Williams
  • Honorable Mention: “Develop Not Displace” by Cindy Muñoz
    
    
• Critical Studies
  
  
  • Honorable Mention: “The Enemy Par Excellence” by Emme Tomasello
  • Honorable Mention: “Blade Runner: The Art of the Edit” by Lawson Whitford
    
    
• Creative
  
  
  • Winner: Miss Me Less by Aphrielle Rodriguez
  • Honorable Mention: Chronicle: The Movie by Noble Ekuma
  
  
  
• Jury Prize
  
  
  • Winner: Crisis Motel by Andrea Hoang
  • Honorable Mention: Dreams of Another Death by Lawson Whitford
    
    

Keynote speaker

Jury

Gracie Chavez
UH Valenti grad and Houston-based musician, music impresario, and municipal official Gracie Chavez has been a prominent member of the local music scene for two decades. In the early 2000s, during the rise of Houston’s rap music scene to the global stage, Gracie was the in-house PR writer for Swisha House, Chamillionaire, and other influential rappers. In 2010, Gracie helped found Bombón, a popular Latin music collective of DJ/musicians and events based on cumbia, Houston rap and tropical bass. A DJ herself, Gracie's skills and taste-making selections on the decks earned invitations nationwide. In 2016 she was named one of Houston’s Best DJs, and music releases from the Bombón label exemplify the city of Houston's incredible diversity. Bombón Texas is also a dedicated advocate for women in music and their impact as community leaders.

Aside from being a music industry impresario, Gracie is also an accomplished communications specialist and marketing and advertising entrepreneur, co-founding web design studios early in her career and later in 2018 co-founding Rukaz Kultura, a multicultural marketing agency. Currently she has a pioneering role in the City of Houston's Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. There, as a Music + Cultural Tourism Officer dedicated to advancing Houston’s music industry and tourism, Gracie helps design strategy and policy for municipal support of Houston musicians and the music industry as well as supports tourism across the state-certified cultural arts districts. In 2022, she drafted an ordinance and founded the first Houston Music Advisory Board which is made up of a diverse group of music industry stakeholders. She continues to lead the Music Board’s work in support of the local music community. She has lectured on music’s cultural influence and performed at art institutions like Contemporary Art Museum Houston and Houston Symphony.

Amy Feitelberg

Amy Feitelberg is an award-winning photography director and creative producer based in California. She is currently a Photo Creative Lead at Airbnb and previously ran the Photo Creative at digital payment platform Square. While at Square, Amy generated the visuals across all platforms from social channels, web, paid media and out of home placements. She also founded an award winning, in-house brand magazine at Square called The Reader. She has been the photo director at Los Angeles and Outside magazines, a curator, and a creative producer. She is also a founding curator on the nonprofit creative team, Images For Humanity. Throughout her career, she has worked with the best photographers in the business and has spearheaded photo shoots all over the world. Her industry awards include a gold medal from the Society of Publication Designers for best photo essay. She recently won 2 Bronze medals from the American Advertising Awards for campaign work and she has received nods of excellence from Communication Arts and the American Photography Photo Annual.

Todd Green

Todd Green is an award-winning filmmaker based in Houston. His feature film Avalanche won Best Comedy-Drama at the 2018 Manhattan Film Festival and is currently streaming online. after four years as a Senior Copywriter and Creative Director at a boutique content agency, Todd just this year launched Media TLG, a full-service digital content writing agency. A lifelong admirer of film and television, Todd always seeks to find positives in every written or recorded work.

Congratulations to this year’s winners of the MMI Teaching and Student Prize Competition!

To view the entire 2022 award ceremony, see here.

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2022 MMI Teaching Prize for Innovative Uses of Media

Created in 2020 in response to the sudden and mass shift to remote learning, the MMI Teaching Prize for Innovative Uses of Media recognizes our faculty and instructors for their efforts and achievements they made in adapting course content and practice. Courses were evaluated on innovation, appeal, accessibility, pedagogical efficacy, and community building. The superb work of these faculty and instructors maintained learning excellence while adapting to various platforms and contingencies. They also add to a growing list of best practices, as hybrid learning environments remain a major aspect of college and university life.

Winners

Full-time faculty, tenured and tenure track

• • CLASS: Melody Yunzi Li, CHNS 3343: Chinese Popular Culture
  • McGovern: Rob Smith, MUSI 4101: New Music Ensemble

Full-time faculty, non-tenure track

• • CLASS: Jing Zhang, CHNS 1501: Elementary Chinese
  • McGovern: N/A

Part-time instructors

• • CLASS: Jing Liu, JAPN 2311:  Intermediate Japanese
  • McGovern: Mark Chen, ART 3374: Computer Imaging

Teaching Prize Jury

• Beckham Dossett, Associate Dean of the Kathrine G. McGovern College of Arts
• Erin Hansen, School of Music
• Eunjeong Lee, Department of English
• Julie Tolliver, Department of Modern & Classical Languages
• Joshua Unikel, School of Art
• Toni Valle, School of Theatre & Dance
  
  

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2022 MMI Student Prize Competition

Now in its third year, the MMI Student Prize Competition recognizes student work in media studies-related fields. Our competition is notable in having three different competition categories—Critical, Creative, and Applied—in order to recognize the variety of different media-related work on campus. This year the former “Best in Show” category was also reconceived as a Special Jury prize.

For a montage of all of this year’s submissions, view here.

Student Prize Competition Winners

Creative: “Miguelito,” an original script by Aixa Tovar

Applied: “Sexual Harassment in the Workplace,” an educational interview by Angeline Abrera

Jury Selection: “Pectin,” a videoessay/memoir short film by Brittny Ray-Crowell

 

Student Prize Competition Jury

Amir Aboulela
Veteran actor Amir Aboulela has appeared in episodes of Pretty Little Liars, Charmed, Star Trek: Enterprise, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Born in Egypt and raised in Texas, Amir is a graduate of the UT-Arlington. In 1998, Amir had a key part in Bill Condon’s Academy Award-winning film, God's and Monsters, as Boris Karloff's Frankenstein—a role for which Amir still receives fan mail.

Lester Gretsch
Trilingual, Emmy award-winning communications professional Lester Gretsch is currently serving as Chief Communications Officer for Spring ISD. Lester is also a prominent former local sports anchor and executive. At Univision, he developed the station's Sunday-evening sports show, Contacto Deportivo Extra, into a ratings driver. The program was also selected as the Best Sportscast in Texas in 2018 and 2021. Prior to that, Lester was Senior Director of Communications and Broadcasting for the Houston Dynamo, where he led media coverage for our local pro soccer team. He also helped support the launch of Houston Dash, the women’s pro team.

Danielle Seid
Scholar and filmmaker Danielle Seid teaches courses in film, television, and media at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Originally from San Diego, Danielle grew up devouring indie films and spending time at the local movie theater, where her grandfather screened imported Hong Kong films. Danielle earned her PhD from the University of Oregon and has previously taught at Baruch College, of the City University of New York. Widely published widely in academic journals and many other venues, Danielle writes about topics ranging from cooking web series, Asian American women’s TV representation, trans media, and the orphan documentary film Forever Chinatown (directed by her grandparents).

Congratulations to the winners of our inaugural Student Prize Competition!

Critical Studies ........... Shannon Duncan, Modern Day Slavery
Creative Work ............ Taylor Andreozzi, The Lemon of Pink
Applied Technology ..... Walter Barta, Digital Monology

Thank you to our jury and keynote speaker!

Keynote Speaker: Filmmaker Jenny Waldo (director, The Preacher's Daughter)

Jury:

• Rick Ferguson ............ Houston Film Commission
• Kristian Salinas .......... QFest
• Tracy Stephenson ...... Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• Tish Stringer, Rice University
• Neal Verma, iRazoo 

To view the complete award ceremony, click here.

Here is a montage of some of the student entries.