Whitt Van Tassell, a freshman at Statesboro High School, has received an “Excellence in Media Production” Award from the International Student Media Festival’s pre-event panel of judges.  Winners from across the United States and their work will be honored during the International Student Media Festival (ISMF) in Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 10-12.
    The judges called Van Tassell’s multimedia presentation on the element Cesium, “An excellent presentation with lots of information presented in an interesting and educational manner and outstanding examples.”  His project was submitted in the Sequential Stills-Regular Category for sixth through eighth graders in May by his former William James Middle School Media Specialist Denise Borck.
    Van Tassell advanced to the ISMF competition after scoring a “Superior” rating for his multimedia project at the Georgia Student Media Festival at Clayton State University in April. He also placed second with the project at the Georgia Technology Fair in Macon in March.
    The ISMF honors students who are successfully incorporating media production within their school learning experience and are using media to become effective communicators. The ISMF is sponsored by the Association for Educational Commun-ications & Technology, a non-profit organization improving instruction through technology.