Alumnus & Filmmaker Corey Knollinger Earns Media Awards
January 27, 2022WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Jan. 27, 2022 — West Liberty University alumnus Corey Knollinger, 25, earned not one but two national awards in filmmaking recently.
The 2019 graduate of the WLU College of Liberal and Creative Arts was selected for awards in both the Topical Documentary and Innovation in Education categories of the 53rd Annual Public Media Award, sponsored by the National Educational Telecommunications Association.
Now a resident of Chattanooga, Tenn., Knollinger is originally from the Ohio Valley and earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and digital media design. While a student he worked for WLU-TV and for WLU’s student radio station WGLZ.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Corey for receiving this recognition. He’s an incredible filmmaker and his passion for creative storytelling through film was, and still is, an inspiration to me. This is just the beginning of an extremely successful career for him. He’s making West Liberty University proud!” said his former instructor Jared Thompson, who is an adjunct faculty member and also serves as creative video director at WLU.
His award documentary award is based on his work as an employee of West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB). The educational film was created while he worked for Greater Chattanooga Public Television Corporation (WTCI).
“I’m thrilled to have won two awards for work that I enjoy,” he said recently.
The documentary that brought him attention is entitled, “Rosemary” and covered Rosemary Ketchum’s campaign for Wheeling’s City Council. A transgender community activist, Ketchum was pleased with the result of the documentary and happy that Knollinger garnered the award for telling her story.
Knollinger shares the award with fellow producer Chuck Kleine. Knollinger, who lived in Wheeling at the time, stated that he “found Ketchum’s long-demonstrated drive to better the lives of the city’s most vulnerable to be inspiring.”
The Innovation in Education award honored his work as a producer in the creation of 100 hours of educational content for, “Raise Your Hand,” an educational channel that started during the pandemic to prevent students slipping through the cracks and provided collaborative creative space that addressed digital educational needs.
Each year, the Public Media Awards celebrate NETA members’ finest work in community engagement, content, education, and marketing/communications, according to its press release announcing the finalists.
“For the third year in a row, the Public Media Awards received a record number of entries. The work that stations are achieving is inspiring,” said NETA president Eric Hyyppa.
Award winners were announced during the 53rd Annual Public Media Awards Gala presented by Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) on Jan. 26 in Columbia, S.C., as part of the NETA Conference and CPB Public Media Thought Leader Forum.
“Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees and awardees,” said Hyyppa. Besides his two winning films, Knollinger also received a nomination and was a finalist in a third category this year.
With the exception of the overall excellence categories, stations competed within their appropriate divisions based on their station size. Awards were judged by a group of expert panelists from within the public media system, as well as industry professionals working outside of public media.
Knollinger now works in marketing, as a video production specialist for EPB Fiberoptic, an energy and connectivity provider in Chattanooga.
About NETA
The National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) is a professional association representing 279 member stations in 47 states, the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. NETA provides leadership, general audience content, educational services, professional development and trusted financial management services, including human resources and benefits administration, to individual public media licensees, their affinity groups and public media as a whole.
WLU’s broadcasting program has a long list of successful graduates working in various capacities in the television, video, internet and radio fields.
Students receive hands-on instruction in our state-of-the-art studios at West Liberty University Television, WLTV–14 and radio station WGLZ. The TV station reaches more than 55,000 cable households in Hancock, Ohio, and Marshall County (West Virginia) via Comcast cable and can be viewed online at topperstation.com. WGLZ is a 150-watt radio station serving 15,000 listeners in the West Liberty area. Broadcasting at 91.5 FM the station also can be heard online. Both stations are written, produced and staffed by our students.
For more information on WLU, please call 1.866.WESTLIB or visit wlibertydev.wpenginepowered.com/.