The 2025 College Student Production Awards, presented by the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Science, held its 43rd annual ceremony this past Sept. 20th at the Marriott Downtown, Philadelphia.
The Academy recognizes outstanding student work in television, file and digital media produced between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025. The ceremony and awards are then held in September, where students from colleges and universities within the Mid-Atlantic region, including parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, are eligible for recognition.
Drexel’s Dragon TV won its first Emmy this year in the Sports Story or Segment category. Dragons TV is a diverse group of students from a variety of majors who cover Drexel’s 18 varsity sports with live broadcasts and video recaps. The free streaming service also supports Drexel Dragons by streaming live games with real-time stats, showing pre-recorded games from all different sports, allowing for in-game updates via their twitter (@DrexelDragonsTV ).
The winning piece, which was titled “Justin Best – Olympic Gold Medal Rower,” interviewed Justin Best, arguably Drexel’s most notable alum, as he talked about how he started as a rower, navigating Drexel and collegiate rowing, and how he got started as an Olympian. Best, who spoke as Drexel’s key commencement speaker this past June at graduation, participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the men’s eight and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. While he just missed the podium in 2020, he took home gold in France, making the U.S. and his fellow Dragons incredibly proud. The feature highlighted his insight on what it means to be a rower at a national level, from having to balance training with a work schedule, seeing a lack of athletic contracts compared to more popular sports, and competing as one of the youngest rowers in a boat at times.
The production team who worked on the feature included John Galonis as Camera Operator/Producer, Dulan Orgonas as Editor, Noah Curry as Camera Operator/Researcher and Tate Hawver and Josh Bellman as Faculty Advisors.