BYU students cleaned up at the student Emmy nominations.
Seventeen students from BYU claimed five nominations across three categories in the Television Academy Foundation’s 45th College Television Awards — teeing the university up to continue winning streaks in the animation and commercial, PSA or promo categories.
Nominees were selected from more than 185 entries submitted by colleges across the country, and are open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
BYU advertising students claimed three nods in the best commercial, PSA or promo category for “Gap: Wear With Care,” “Ink Up. Wash Out” and “Never Leave Home.”
- “Gap: Wear With Care” by Porter Christensen, director; Maren Edwards, writer; Jill Jackson, producer; and Taylor Slade, producer
- “Ink Up. Wash Out” by Mia Shumway, writer; Eli Rothas, producer and Kyle Gilmour, director
- “Never Leave Home” by Mia Shumway, writer; Joseph Larsen, director; Carly Garrett, producer; Abe Tullis, producer; and Jeff Yi, producer
If one of these three BYU nominees wins, the university will continue its five-year winning streak for best commercial, PSA or promo.
BYU also earned a nom in best animated series for “Love & Gold,” a film about two thieves who search the same dungeon for an extremely valuable jewel, produced by Jaysen Duckworth and written and directed by Connor Van Dyke.
The BYU animation program has earned 22 student Emmys and won last year for its short film, “Student Accomplice.”
At BYU, “Students aren’t just ... subservient to faculty, they’re actually working on their own projects and they’re working to develop their own skills,” Kelly Loosli, who co-founded the BYU animation program, previously told the Deseret News on what sets BYU’s animation program apart from others.
“BYU is focused on undergraduate education. ... And that’s not always the case at other major universities,” he continued. “You go to any other art school, and every kid makes their own film. And at BYU, we have everybody work together to make a big, collaborative film.”
“The fact that kids buy into that vision ... that is just huge to me.”
In the best comedy series category, BYU is nominated for “Thanksgiving,” a humorous series about a man who is eager for Thanksgiving dinner to end and gets trapped in a time loop with his family. The series is produced by Ryan Jones, directed by Austin Lawrence and written by Abigail Tolley.
The winning group for best comedy series will win $10,000 for the inaugural Chance Perdomo Legacy Scholarship — an award created by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM for the College Television Awards as a tribute to the late actor Chance Perdomo, who died in 2024 from a motorcycle accident.
Winners of the 45th College Television Awards will be announced on March 28 at a red-carpet ceremony in Los Angeles.