Carolina earns three nominations in 2014 SXSW Interactive student category

Three of the five finalists in the student category of the 2014 SXSW Interactive Awards are projects by students in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. It’s the fourth consecutive year two or more UNC J-school projects have been nominated in the category that showcases “projects from student designers who are refreshing this industry with new talent and new ideas."

UNC finalists include:

• “Heart of the High Country” — The project marks the 10th consecutive summer that visual communication students have traveled to a North Carolina location to tell the stories of the people living in the area. In 2013, students documented the state’s mountains.
• “Over Water Under Fire” — This Powering a Nation special report combines a video narrative with motion graphics and text to present the Colorado River as a living timeline of the nation’s relationship with water and to show how the river’s uncertain future echoes the state of water resources in the U.S.
• “What Matters To Us” — Created by students in advanced and documentary photojournalism classes, the project tells the stories of hardship and hope in America’s recovery from the most recent economic downturn.

"These projects are a testament to the power of collaboration and to the culture at UNC, where students can bring an array of skills to a project, think conceptually about timely issues and then work together as a team to create work that pushes the boundaries and helps shape the future of journalistic storytelling," said assistant professor Chad A. Stevens, who served as producer for “Over Water Under Fire.” 

In 2013, "Living Galápagos" — an interactive multimedia website that explores the impact of mankind on the Galápagos Islands— won in the student category. “Port City Stories” also was nominated. “Coal: A Love Story,” an interactive multimedia website that explores modern culture’s relationship with coal won in the student category in 2012, while "Finding the Uwharries" also was nominated. In 2011, reesenews.org and “Now What Argentina?” were selected as student finalists.

The 2014 winners will be announced at the 17th Annual SXSW Interactive Awards ceremony in Austin on March 11. The event will be emceed by Nerdist News host Jessica Chobot.