Communication students receive their Telly Awards in ceremony
By Steve Schwartz | Staff writer
Two talented Augusta University seniors, both due to graduate this December, received their Telly Awards on Thursday, Sept. 3, for their Georgia Cancer Center Public Service Announcement video “Lungs of Rubber.”
Ana Winters and Madison Broadwater made “Lungs of Rubber” in COMM 3030 (Audiovisual Media Production) last spring under adjunct professor Arthur Takahashi.
“Lungs of Rubber” won the bronze Telly in the Social Media–Student category, bringing these accolades home to AU.
They received their awards in the COMM Hub in Allgood Hall during a regularly scheduled Take a Break Thursday event in which the Department of Communication and Integrated Studies invites students for a lunch of chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, chocolate chip cookies and a selection of fruit.
Communication seniors Madison Broadwater (L) and Ana Winters with their bronze Telly Awards. (photo by Steve Schwartz)
The beginning of this story started more than 10 years ago at the time the campuses of AU went smoke free. At that time, the Georgia Cancer Center began to collaborate with the Department of Communication to produce 30-second videos promoting healthy habits or discouraging unhealthy habits, according to Maryclaire Regan of the Georgia Cancer Center. So, a decade ago, then video production professor Rick Pukis began to teach communication students how to make these short PSAs that usually encourage the public not to smoke or vape.
This responsibility has been carried out in COMM 3030 every fall and spring semester ever since. This most recent submission was made in April 2026, after the students’ coursework was submitted for the semester. Then a panel of communication professors and media professional judge the students’ videos, and Regan gave out class awards.
Works like these highlight exceptional individuals performing at a professional level. As they prepare for their futures after graduation, Winters and Broadwater can place Telly Award winner on their resumes and in their E-portfolios. (Communication students are required to complete an E-portfolio in their capstone seminar.)
Winters, a former reporter for the Bell Ringer, is interested in public relations. Broadwater focuses on political communication.
Together, they constructed, assembled, planned, produced and finally created a 29-second award-winning PSA for the Georgia Cancer Center, located on the Health Sciences Campus. They also highlighted how much they enjoyed bringing the public health message to those involved in the process. They were excited for how well their message was receivedduring the creative process and in its results.
That public health focus directed their decisions in the short film making process, and it also informed their behavior with the community that helped generate their good works. In addition to the PSA, their work and the collaborative effort within the group by people who participated in the production also provided the Georgia Cancer Center with an exhibit to display, to be installed in the near future.
Regan, the Cancer Center’s community outreach coordinator, was effusive in her praise of Winters and Broadwater.
“They went two steps beyond what was expected,” Regan said.
Regan helps coordinate the production of the PSAs each semester, as students taking COMM 3030 pair up to produce the videos. She reaches out to the professor at the beginning of the semester and initiates the process by providing topics for the students to vote on. She regularly attends class to help the process along.
The cooperative relationships between university departments allows for a symbiotic working environment that results in students achieving personal goals while attaining professional success.
The students also expressed their gratitude to the community involved with the creative process and were thankful for donations to build the model/props for the video. Winters and Broadwater’s PSA is already being featured in the Communication Department’s Sports Squad podcast. Takahashi also plans offer it to a local news television station.
Contact Steve Schwartz at stschwartz@augusta.edu.
Adjunct professor Arthur Takahashi explains how Ana Winters and Madison Broadwater made their Telly Award-winning video “Lungs of Rubber” during a ceremony in the COMM Hub on Thursday, Sept. 3. (photo by Steve Schwartz)
