Greenlee School merits AV All-Star Honor, ten Student Production Nominations from Upper Midwest Emmy® Foundation

Students at Iowa State University’s Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication received on Monday ten Student Production Awards nominations for outstanding achievement from the Upper Midwest Emmy® Foundation. Hosted by the Upper Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, a live ceremony will announce the 2025 Student Production Awards winners on Friday, April 11, at the Hilton DoubleTree in Bloomington, Minn.

That night, Blake Petersen, a Greenlee senior in journalism and mass communication and native of Elk Horn, Iowa, will be honored as a recipient of the 2025 College AV All-Star from the Upper Midwest Emmy® Foundation. The award recognizes students who are “an incredible technical asset to the overall success of their school’s student video media program.” 

Petersen spent two years as a videographer and on-air talent for the student TV news magazine show “EverGreenlee News.” The show garnered eight of Greenlee’s ten nominations and is a product of second-year Assistant Teaching Professor Tony Moton’s broadcast media production class. Outside the school, Petersen also worked in production for Cyclones.tv, the Iowa State Athletic Department’s regional sports and streaming network, which encompasses working high-leverage broadcasts for ESPN+ productions at Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium. He also interned for two minor league baseball franchises: the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders of the Northwoods League and the Iowa Cubs, the AAA farm team of the Chicago Cubs.

“An honor like this is something I never thought I would get in my time at Iowa State,” Petersen said when he received word of the recognition. “I can’t help but be thankful for every opportunity I’ve gotten. Iowa State and Tony Moton pushed me beyond what I thought I could do. I’m happy to represent Iowa State, and I’m happy to represent my hometown of Elk Horn.”

Petersen and 13 other Greenlee Students produced “EverGreenlee News” in the fall of 2024: Nick Harmon, Abby Altman, Matthew Nielsen, Caleb Polking, Keegan Jensen, Kaitlyn Nanke, Logen Clark, Brittany Huston, Chayse Roecker, Dylan Fobian, Lucas Thompson and Kiley Allen.

The show was nominated in the following college-division categories:

“I couldn’t be any prouder of our students,” said Moton, who developed the show’s concept. “We built this show from the ground up my first year, and this fall, a whole new crop of talent really took it to another level. Just to be nominated is a huge honor in itself, but we produced some very powerful work this year.”

Also receiving nominations from the Greenlee School are reporters Liam Brennan (“Music Venue Sees Record Crowds”) and Jacob Rice (“Meet the People Behind the Fashion”) in the feature news category. Their packages were produced for Greenlee’s “Studio 308,” an online showcase of short-format feature stories produced weekly by Greenlee students. “Studio 308” was conceived and is coordinated by Assistant Teaching Professor James McNab, himself a Greenlee school alum.

“To have the hard work of all of our students recognized by the Upper Midwest Emmy® Foundation is a pleasure and a privilege,” McNab said. “Allowing them to tell the stories that matter most to them is key in our workflow. We feel that the results speak for themselves and are honored to join all our fellow nominees in the feature category.”

For a complete list of Upper Midwest Emmy® Foundation 2025 nominations, click here.