Theresa Heintz Receives Broadcasting Award for Documentary Detailing Father's Suicide

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YORK, PA (02/15/2011)(readMedia)-- York College of Pennsylvania senior Theresa Heintz of Dallas, Pa., has been awarded Honorable Mention by the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts for her short form documentary "Life After Death."

Heintz's documentary details the struggle she, her mother and two sisters have experienced since the 2004 suicide of her father, Dr. James J. Heintz, a Wilkes-Barre, Pa. orthopedic surgeon. Dr. Heintz was a marathon triathlete who at the time of his passing was recovering from injuries suffered in a bicycle training accident.

Part of the documentary was recorded at York College and featured Theresa's sister, Elizabeth, who graduated from York College with a bachelor's degree in nursing in 2010. She is now employed at the Scranton Hospital in Scranton, Pa. Theresa's youngest sister, Katrina, who was also in the documentary, is now a sophomore at York College, also majoring in nursing.

Heintz produced her documentary during her Spring 2010 Video Production 2 – Documentary Storytelling class taught by Lowell A. Briggs, who encouraged her to entry the national competition. "Theresa captured the 'lived experience' of her mother and sisters' ongoing struggle following the loss of her Dad, with great care and professionalism," Briggs said. "Her ability to tell such a deeply personal and compelling story in a documentary format, was exemplary, and appropriately touched BEA judges as much it did me and her classmates."

BEA is the professional organization for broadcast faculty and students throughout the world, of which York College is a member. This year, BEA's Festival of Media Arts received over 900 video entrees in 15 categories. The Student Documentary-Short Form category is judged by a select mass communication faculty from BEA member schools. The Honorable Mention designation recognizes documentary producers whose work scores at or above 85% of all category entrants, in the creative elements of writing, artistic and technical direction; production elements of video, lighting and audio; and message design.

BEA will present Theresa with her award at its national convention in Las Vegas on April 11. York College mass communications faculty members Thomas Hall, Robert Mott and Lowell A. Briggs will also be present for the award ceremony.

Theresa is a senior majoring in mass communications with minors in visual communication, advertising and marketing. Following graduation from York College in May, she plans to pursue a career in broadcast news reporting.

Located in southcentral Pennsylvania, York College offers more than 50 baccalaureate majors in professional programs, the sciences and humanities to its 4,600 undergraduate students. The College also offers master's programs in business, education and nursing, and a doctorate in nursing practice. A center of affordable academic excellence, York is dedicated to the intellectual, professional and social growth of its students. The College helps them develop a concrete plan to attain academic growth and career success; encourages them to try in the "real world" what they learn in the classroom; and prepares them to be professionals in whatever career they pursue.

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