Students will have the chance to showcase photography and film work at the first annual Film and Photography Gala hosted by the College of Communication and Information and Kent State’s Undergraduate Student Government.

The Film and Photography Gala will be held March 30 at 5 p.m. in Franklin Hall. Proceeds from the event will benefit CCI’s Equipment Services Lab, known as ESL,that is located in Franklin Hall, which allows students to rent equipment like camcorders, tripods and cameras for classes.

“We wanted to provide an opportunity for students to display their work to a professional audience, and at the same time we would be helping raise money to continue expanding ESL to help students have better access to this equipment for future projects,” Tyler Pina, who helped created the event, said.

David Sadvari, senator of the Undergraduate Student Government, created and organized the event to help students display their work.

“I was thinking what I can do during my time as senator that can really benefit the student body,” Sadvari said. “I started researching and found that the Black Squirrel Flix Fest ended this past year because they didn’t have enough people that could run it. I took what they were already doing and organized it under the CCI name to try to bring more of the whole CCI college part of it. It’s not just a film festival; I am trying to bring more of the still photography into it.”

Two different competitions will take place during the event. The first will take place at the FirstEnergy Auditorium Lobby at 5 p.m. and will showcase the photography portion of the Gala. The photos will go through two different rounds of evaluation. The second portion of the competition is the film screening that will begin at 6:15 p.m. in the FirstEnergy Auditorium in Franklin Hall.

Photos for the photography competition will only be open to students who have completed work in elementary and basic photography, Visual Storytelling or photojournalism classes. Students may also submit work from student media and personal projects from the 2010 through 2011 school year.

Sadvari said in years to come, he hopes to expand the photo competition to students in programs like the School of Visual Communication Design. He said he hopes that the event can take place every year and hopes students will be excited to participate in the competition.

Submissions for the film portion will be open to any Kent State undergraduate or graduate student. tudents may submit up to three film works. All submissions are due by March 26 to Jennifer Kramer, who is located in the CCI Dean’s office in Moulton Hall.

Sadvari said there will be three different winners for both the photo and film competitions. He said he is still negotiating with the school and sponsors about the prizes. Mark Kerecman, an editor at EDR Media, which is a media outlet based in Beachwood that designs and produces several different types of commercials, sports media and television series, will judge the competition. Other judges will be announced closer to the Gala date. All photos and film must be viewable by a general audience and free of any inappropriate material.

The Film and Photography Gala will be open to the public. Tickets will cost $5 and refreshments will be served at 5 p.m. Students in the competition will receive two free tickets. Entrants will receive notification of acceptance to the competition by March 28.

“We hope that a lot of students participate,” Pina said. “Ideally, we hope and think that this event will help boost the college’s reputation as well as the students’ within the professional industry.”

Contact Shannen Laur at [email protected].