The West Virginia University School of Journalisms award-winning student- and faculty-produced documentary on cancer patients and their struggles with the disease has won a Midwestern Regional Emmy.
p. The awards ceremony was held Saturday (June 12) at the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio.

“Winning an Emmy is a tremendous honor for the School. It also speaks to the professionalism of our students and faculty who spent years working on this project,”said Maryanne Reed, WVU P .I. Reed School of Journalism acting dean.

“Cancer Stories: Lessons in Love, Loss and Hope”was nominated in the Informational Program category. The documentary chronicles the lives of five cancer patients from diagnosis through their treatments.

The documentary originally aired on West Virginia Public Broadcast stations in December 2003. WVPB also helped with the project, providing an award-winning editor to help with the documentary.

Cancer Stories also aired twice in April on all stations owned by West Virginia Media.

More than 30 WVU School of Journalism students worked on this unique project. Broadcast, news-editorial and photography students worked for nearly a year and a half to create the documentary and a book that WVU Press will release in the fall.

The documentary and book have been featured in American Journalism Review. The documentary also won an Award of Excellence in the 2004 Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts documentary category.