BEVERLY, Mass. — Three members of the Endicott Athletics multimedia team have earned awards from the Boston Press Photographers Association (BPPA), as announced by the association yesterday. The BPPA is the oldest press and television photographers association in the United States.
Ryan Atkins '23 (Nashua, N.H.), Demetrius Kazanas '22 (Leonia, N.J.), and Chris Lyons '22 (Northborough, Mass.) all had winning entries in the BPPA College Contest.
Kazanas and Lyons swept the top-3 spots in the Sports Category. Kazanas took top honors in the section, while Lyons claimed second and third place awards, respectively.
Atkins rounded out the group with a third place entry in the Portrait Category.
"I'm very proud of what our entire group of students entered in the BPPA College Contest this year," said Endicott staff photographer David Le '10. "We had strong entries across the board from numerous students within our athletics photo group. In particular, Ryan, Demetrius, and Chris should be proud to see their work recognized by this prestigious organization. I'm thrilled for all three of them."
Dating back to 2015 (based upon available data), Endicott student photographers have now swept the BPPA College Contest Sports Category twice (2021, 2019).
The Gulls' photographers have captured four first place awards and produced 12 winning entries under Le's direction.
Alumni from the athletics multimedia team have gone on to shoot photos and videos for professional sports teams, all NCAA Divisions, major Division I athletic conferences, motorsports, and production companies, among various other organizations/sports.
The student group meets monthly to learn industry best practices in photo/video journalism, editing, coloring, and social media strategy under the direction of Le and Sports Information Director Shawn Medeiros.
All students on the team shoot photographs and videos for various sporting events, media days, and feature stories for athletics and college-wide use. Members of the group are able to apply what they learn from their award-winning professors in the School of Visual & Performing Arts in a real-time setting throughout the academic year, which aligns perfectly with the College's experiential learning model.
"Seeing Ryan, Demetrius, and Chris honored by the BPPA is a testament to all the hard work our students put into their craft. It also represents the importance our professors, including David, place on our experiential learning model and how well they collectively teach them in and out of the classroom," said Medeiros. "As David mentioned, I'm proud of the entire set of entries submitted to the BPPA contest. I'm confident in saying it won't be the last time our students are honored by the BPPA. Their hard work and dedication to providing a Division I social media presence for our student-athletes is inspiring and noticed."
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(Photo Credit - Leanna Puccio '24)
