Don Priest, chair of the Mass Communications and Journalism Department at California State University, Fresno, will receive the Rosebud Award on Saturday, Nov. 5, during the 2005 CSU Media Arts Festival at CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo.

Priest will receive the festival’s prestigious award -- in recognition of the outstanding media arts faculty member in the entire CSU for service to its students and for noteworthy professional accomplishment -- during a special ceremony at 7 p.m. in Conference Hall 1.

The awards ceremony is free and open to the public and will be followed by a public reception in Conference Hall 2 in honor of the winners of the Media Arts Festival student competition that will be held November 4, 5, and 6, at CSU Channel Islands.

The Media Arts Festival is a three-day festival featuring seminars and events geared to helping CSU students become better prepared to work in the entertainment and media industries. It includes a juried competition for participants in film, video and interactive media.

This year, 230 entries were received for the competition with 30 finalists selected.  A screening of student works is free and open to the public on Friday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in Conference Hall 1 at the CSU Channel Islands campus.

Priest joined the Fresno State faculty in 1995 and served as director of the Media Arts Festival in 1999 and 2000. He was elected Mass Communications and Journalism chair in 2002.

“The selection committee, comprised of former honorees, called Don ‘quite possibly the most important Native American documentary filmmaker ever’," said Joanne Bartok, festival director who is also assistant director of the affiliated CSU Summer Arts that is held at Fresno State.

Jose Diaz, associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, nominated Priest calling him an innovative teacher with considerable knowledge and skill in the latest telecommunications technologies.

“Don’s work as producer, director, writer, editor and videographer has earned him a national reputation in the documentary genre,” Diaz said.  “Recognized for his signature style that expresses genuine concern and compassion for his subject, Don has an especially unique ability to tell a story from the subject’s point of view.”

Priest’s outstanding contributions to the field have earned him six national Tellys, four Awards of Distinction, two Awards of Excellence from the National Communicator Awards, a Silver and a Bronze medal from the Charleston International Film Festival and a First Place prize at the UNLV Documentary Festival.

One of the crowning achievements of Priest’s contribution to the university’s educational mission, Diaz, said, was the key role he played in securing a partnership between Fresno State, the Fresno Unified School District, Fresno Pacific University, Fresno Community College and the Comcast Cable Company that resulted in a dedicated local channel -- Comcast 96 -- for airing programs specifically produced by member institutions of that coalition.

Diaz credits Priest, in his third year as chair of mass communications and journalism, with the resurrection of Fresno State’s television and film curriculum.

“By many accounts it has become one of the top five educational programs in the state,” Diaz said.  “His colleagues praise his leadership abilities and the vision and outreach activities he provides that have brought increasing national and international attention to all the programs in his department.”

Among Priest’s projects that helped earn him the accolade are:

• Arts/variety shows that air on the local PBS station such as: Works in Progress and Not From New Orleans;

• Fresno State Focus, a weekly student-produced newscast about university news that airs on Comcast Cable titled;

• Magazine and talk shows that air on local commercial television such as Business Drive, PAX (public affairs), Hye Talk (an Armenian magazine show), On Tonight with Chris Terrence, and The Guy Haberman Show;

• A music show featuring performances by students and faculty from the Department of Music with set designs provided by students from the Department of Theatre Arts titled Studio Showcase;

• A taping of the Fresno City/County All Star Football Game that airs on cable television.

Priest also currently chairs a multidisciplinary committee comprised of faculty from the departments of Art and Design, Music, and Mass Communication and Journalism that is developing curriculum for a minor and possible major in Media Arts.

For more information, contact Bartok at 562.951.4065 or jbartok@calstate.edu.

The Media Arts Festival, established in 1991, provides an opportunity for talented students studying film, video, and interactive media within the 23-campus California State University system to present their work for critical review. The three-day festival includes seminars and events geared to helping the CSU students become better prepared to work in the entertainment and media industries.

Distinguished CSU professors and industry leaders choose the student finalists and winners in the film, video, and interactive media competition with cash prizes awarded to the winning student entries. Since the festival's inception, more than 1,700 students have submitted entries in this juried competition.

In 2000, the festival began recognizing the outstanding faculty of the CSU with the prestigious Rosebud Award for service to the students of the CSU and noteworthy professional accomplishment. Prior honorees include Jack Ofield from San Diego State University (2000); Alan Bloom from CSU Los Angeles (2001); José Sánchez-H, from the Film and Electronic Arts department at CSU Long Beach (2002); Ivan Cury from CSU Los Angeles (2003); and Sharyn Blumenthal from CSU Long Beach (2004).