ESPN Looks to Students for Content
ESPNU Campus Connection to Solicit Content for All ESPN Platforms
By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/6/2007 3:27:00 PM
ESPNU, in collaboration with a number of colleges and universities, is launching ESPNU Campus Connection, an initiative for college students to generate content for all of the ESPN platforms.
“ESPNU Campus Connection will offer sports fans a unique perspective from a college student’s point-of-view, bringing them closer to the on-campus experience,” ESPNU vice president and general manager Burke Magnus said in a statement. “This initiative will give each participant an opportunity to gain invaluable professional experience through various ESPN multimedia services, which will shape some of the future reporters, writers and producers of the sports-media world.”
Students at participating schools will work with professors and athletic departments, and they may contribute content for television, print or the Web. For TV, students can contribute play-by-play, analysis or reporting for games involving their schools, as well as segments and feature stories for the ESPN networks, including ESPN and ESPN2. Students participating in the initiative will also be writing articles for ESPN-The Magazine and ESPN.com.
A total of 11 schools have committed to the program, including Georgetown, UNC Chapel Hill, Syracuse, Tennessee and Pepperdine. ESPNU hopes to have 20 schools signed up for its initial launch year.
The first assignment for the initiative will be the UNC-Asheville at UNC basketball game Jan. 9. Students from UNC will serve in a number of production and reporting roles.
