Rider University's Tiffany Ervin Places Second in National Video Competition

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ (01/16/2012)(readMedia)-- Tiffany Ervin '13 of Edison, N.J., was one of the two students from Rider University's Department of Communication and Journalism, who won second-place in a national video competition.

Ervin and Teresa Trotta '13 of Staten Island, N.Y., both juniors in the Radio and Television program, created the award-winning videos for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Choose My Plate Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge, a national public service announcement contest. The USDA was seeking "inspiring and instructive videos that provide innovative, easy and practical tips on how to add more fruits and vegetables to your diet on a budget."

Scott Alboum, video technologies coordinator, told the students in his fall 2011 TV Production course about the contest, and Ervin and Trotta each produced and submitted a video in the competition. Both students will receive $1,000 for their winning entries.

Ervin's video, titled Let's Get Involved, won second place in the Tips for Kids category and focuses on getting children excited about fruits and vegetables by involving them in the shopping process. Ervin said the concept evolved from a conversation that she had with her sister, April, who recalled how much of a hassle that it used to be to have her children eat their fruits and vegetables. That changed when she began to encourage her children to pick out their own produce at the store.

"I think it was a great opportunity. Now I can put on my résumé that I placed second in a government-sponsored competition," Ervin said. "Aside from the money, I'm happy to have had the experience."

The Video Challenge is one of many run by federal agencies to find innovative or cost–effective submissions or improvements to ideas, products and processes. A panel of experts judged each submission on the quality of the idea (including creativity and originality); the implementation of the idea (including video and photo quality and creativity); and its potential impact on healthy eating habits (including how instructive, easy-to-follow and cost-effective the idea is). There were 142 entries, and the winners were announced on December 28. The videos can be viewed on the challenge web page: http://fruitsandveggies.challenge.gov/.

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