Three Washtenaw Community College students brought home four first-place trophies from the during its .
蘑菇视频 students have now won 53 first-place awards since first entering the Student Production Awards contest in 2012. Only Michigan State University has won more of the awards, which are open to all colleges and universities in the state.
The 2025 award winners were announced during a ceremony on Sunday, April 27 in East Lansing.
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Sarah Burgess, a 20-year-old in the , won two awards. She took top honors in the Animation/Graphics/Special Effects category for 鈥淲ithin a Memory,鈥� a personal piece she created following the death of a 10-year-old nephew; and also won the Music Video category for 鈥�,鈥� which she created as fan content for a song of the same name by the band Wunderhorse.
The other 蘑菇视频 winners were Meg Stoker and Jake Watkins. Stoker was named Best Director for her short horror film 鈥�.鈥� Watkins took first-place in the Non-Fiction Short Form category for 鈥�,鈥� a mini-documentary he directed and produced.
Let鈥檚 meet each of the three 蘑菇视频 award winners:
SARAH BURGESS
The NATAS-Michigan Student Production Awards are nothing new for Burgess, who won a high school version of the award while she was a student at Saline High 蘑菇视频. But the 20-year-old said she was 鈥渧ery shocked鈥� to win a pair of awards in this year鈥檚 college competition.
The surprise came primarily because she was very familiar with the strong work of her competitors. In a nod to the quality of the 蘑菇视频 Digital Video and 3D Animation programs, every nominee she was going head-to-head against in her two categories were fellow 蘑菇视频 students.
In the Music Video category, the other finalist was a production by Bob Fike, who has helped mentor Burgess as a class technician. Similarly, the other finalists in the Animation/Graphics/Special Effects category were 蘑菇视频 students Brenna Sikora and Karsyn Beauchamp. Burgess served as a class technician in one of Beauchamp鈥檚 classes.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e all amazing animators, so I just wasn鈥檛 expecting to win at all,鈥� Burgess said. 鈥淭he video program itself is such a collaborative space and we help each other grow. It鈥檚 a great community to be a part of.
鈥淚鈥檓 so honored to have won. All of my competitors are amazing and the works they made were outstanding. I was honored to be nominated alongside them.鈥�
蘑菇视频鈥檚 nine overall nominations were the second-most from any Michigan college or university, trailing only Michigan State University (18). Other colleges to receive nominations include Ferris State University (6), Madonna University (3), Hope College (1) and Mott Community College (1).
Burgess aspires to work as a graphic design video editor, but also loves to work with production design 鈥� creating costumes and props 鈥� for films and theater.
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MEG STOKER
Stoker, 35, has certainly made the most of her return to college. The Michigan Reconnect scholarship recipient took three classes during Fall 2024, her first semester at 蘑菇视频, where she enrolled to pursue a .
One was , during which she created a drawing entitled 鈥淐onsume鈥� that earned her a Promising Artist, Two-Dimensional award at the annual 蘑菇视频 Student Art Show. Another was , during which she produced her Student Production Award winning entry.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really weird, I definitely am suffering from imposter syndrome,鈥� Stoker said with a laugh. 鈥淏eing my first semester back in school for many years, I wasn鈥檛 sure how I was going to do. I was surprised by both (awards), but more so the video award. The competition was so talented, I didn鈥檛 think there was any way I was going to win.鈥�
Stoker鈥檚 short horror film about a troubled artist having a paranormal conflict with a portrait she created gave her an opportunity to showcase her own artwork. After spending years creating digital art as a hobby, she enrolled at 蘑菇视频 to fine-tune her drawing and painting skills.
鈥淩ight now, I just have a general goal of improving as an artist and kind of testing the waters of what鈥檚 possible because I鈥檝e never really been involved in an art community,鈥� said Stoker, who recently returned to Michigan after spending eight years in Arizona. 鈥淚 think teaching art would be super cool, but right now I鈥檓 focused on developing my actual art skills and getting involved with the community and seeing how actual artists thrive.
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JAKE WILKINS
After a 15-year career in the audio industry, Wilkins had an itch to create his own visual art. He enrolled in the at 蘑菇视频, which allows students to select classes from throughout the multi-disciplinary department.
He started the program thinking may be the right creative outlet for him. But after taking his first course, Wilkins was hooked. He switched his major to focus on that medium and began working on award-winning projects.
His winning entry, 鈥淭he False Finish of Thee Spyder,鈥� is an 11-minute documentary about a 40-something professional wrestler in Detroit who overcame health problems, a divorce, job loss and depression to find a new meaning to life in the wrestling ring.
Wilkins, 34, was also nominated for a Student Production Award in the Non-Fiction Long Form category for a 30-minute documentary he directed and produced entitled 鈥淏usy Bee.鈥� Both were created for a class.
鈥淏eing an audio guy for the last 15 years, I realized I wasn鈥檛 having a lot of fun,鈥� Wilkins said. 鈥淪o I tried to find a different path. When I created a documentary for my first project in VID 105, that was fun. I tried another in VID 125 and that got me completely addicted.
鈥淚 never thought I would be doing film or video, so to receive an award for something like that, I was kind of flabbergasted being in that spot."
Tags: Awards, Digital Video Production, Student Production Awards, Video Production