Thursday, January 24, 2002

By: Elissa Garriss, PR Intern

WILMINGTON, NC- The University of North Carolina at Wilmington has won awards for its fourth television documentary. Paving the American Dream: Southern Cities, Shores & Sprawl received four awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III, which covers the southeastern United States. UNCW has also won awards for its three previous documentaries.

In addition to the Award of Excellence for Documentary, the film garnered three special merit awards for radio spot, invitation, and logo. The winning entries will be displayed at the CASE III Conference in Atlanta Feb. 3-6, 2002.

Paving the American Dream was made possible with the support of many. UNCW faculty and staff were responsible for the entire production from scripting to filming to postproduction. With program concept and narration by Chancellor James Leutze, Ph.D., the documentary was written, directed, and co-produced by Dr. Lou Buttino, professor of communication studies at UNCW, and filmed and edited by Dustin Miller with UNCW Television. Executive producer is Elaine Penn who produced the university’s previous three award-winning documentaries. Major corporate sponsors who helped produce this $160,000 project are Weyerhaeuser Company Foundation, Sprint PCS, and the Holiday Inn SunSpree Resort at Wrightsville Beach.

The documentary was broadcast on North Carolina and South Carolina public television June 20, 2001. It explored issues and possible solutions to traffic congestion, water quality, air pollution, green space depletion, urban sprawl, and a diminishing quality of life from Maryland to Florida.

“I want people to walk away from watching Paving the American Dream with a sense of urgency,” said Dr. Leutze. “People must understand that time is critical. Our environment is riding on it. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington is dedicated to fulfilling its mission. We must reach beyond our campus boundaries to raise awareness and educate the public about issues that not only affect our state, but our society as a whole.”

In addition to the documentary, UNCW is creating an educator’s resource Web site for public schools. It’s anticipated launch date is at the end of January. According to Penn, UNCW has sent out approximately 3,000 copies of the documentary to public school systems from Maryland to Florida.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CASE provides education professionals in alumni relations, communications and development with essential tools to advance their institution. CASE also offers a variety of advancement products and services, provides standards and an ethical framework for the profession, and works with other organizations to respond to public issues of concern, while promoting the importance of education worldwide.

NOTE TO MEDIA: For more information, you can contact Elaine Penn, special projects director at (910) 962-2657, penne@uncwil.edu or Barbie Cowan, research coordinator at (910) 962-2650, cowanb@uncwil.edu