Two Kanbar Freshmen Named Finalists in mtvU Oscars Correspondent Contest

By Richard Pierce

      Two freshman film students from the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television in the Tisch School of the Arts, Diana Snyder (anchor) and Mike Ren (videographer), were named one of the top 10 finalist teams in the first-ever Oscar Correspondent Contest, giving college journalists nationwide the chance to head to Los Angeles to cover red carpet festivities and backstage celebrations at the 81st Academy Awards.
      The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and mtvU, MTV’s 24-hour college network, invited students to submit a video showcasing their broadcast journalism skills and asking them to prove why they deserve to cover the Oscars. The top 10 videos selected were posted online and viewers could vote for their favorite journalists.
      The top three teams in the online voting were flown to Los Angeles to cover Academy Awards pre-events. The Grand Prize team, revealed Feb. 20, was awarded a spot on the red carpet for the 81st Academy Awards arrivals as well as credentials for access to backstage press rooms. The two finalist teams received bleacher seats along the red carpet and admission to an Oscar viewing party.
      Snyder, from Harrison, N.Y., and Ren, from Raleigh, N.C., are both 18 and met last semester while students in associate professor Carlos De Jesus’s Digital Frame and Sequence class at Kanbar.