Wildlife Center Video Wins National Award

COROLLA, N.C. (Aug. 17, 2004) — It won’t open until next summer, but the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education is already garnering acclaim.

A 20-minute video greeting visitors to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s educational facility on Currituck Sound has won a prestigious national award from an association of media professionals. The Golden Reel award from the Media Communications Association International recognizes “achievements in media excellence,” according to the organization’s Web site.

“It took about three years to get done,” said Kim DeCoste, who produced the video for the N.C. Agency for Public Telecommunications. “It shows a neat part of our history that not a whole lot of people know about.”

“Currituck: Life by Water’s Rhythms” depicts the powerful role of Currituck Sound in both natural and human history. Separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the thin Outer Banks, Currituck Sound abounds with freshwater fish, waterfowl and other game.

Taking advantage of this natural splendor has been a lengthy succession of humans — from Native Americans to European colonists to wealthy Northern industrialists whose lavish hunt clubs dotted the sound. For today’s barrier island residents, tourism and outdoor recreation have all but displaced fishing, boat building and decoy carving in the local culture and economy.

The video uses documentary techniques that should be familiar to PBS viewers: sepia-toned archive photos, animation, even costumed historical re-enactment. The purpose of the crash course in all things Currituck is to “orient visitors to where they are,” said Ginger Williams, chief of the Wildlife Commission’s Division of Conservation Education.

The Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education is due to open in summer 2005. Its neighbors on the sound side of Corolla include Currituck Lighthouse and the Whalehead Club, a former private hunting enclave converted into a local heritage museum.

The Wildlife Commission facility will feature exhibits celebrating Currituck Sound’s culture of hunting, fishing and other natural resources-related pursuits, as well as the Outer Banks’ wildlife and unique ecology. The education center currently provides programs ranging from kayaking and fishing courses to environmental science.

The video will be one of the first attractions that visitors to the Outer Banks Center will see. “It will give a framework to view the exhibits,” said DeCoste, the video’s producer. “It’s not trying to answer all their questions. Hopefully, it will raise a few questions.

“That was my objective going in,” she added. “That’s what video is good at. It’s not so good at showing details, but the big picture. And feelings. Hopefully, by the end of it viewers will have a sense of kinship with the sound.”

She succeeded, if the Golden Reel award is any indication. The media association’s top honor recognizes creativity and technical skill at the highest levels for government, nonprofit and corporate external communications.

The Golden Reel was not DeCoste’s first. In 1998, she won for a guest video at the Wildlife Commission’s first public facility: the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education. Located in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, the Pisgah Center’s exhibits and programming focus on mountain wildlife and habitats.

A third regional Wildlife Commission facility, the Centennial Campus Center for Wildlife Education, also is due to open in 2005 at N.C. State University in Raleigh. Its concentration will be on wildlife in urban and suburban habitats.

DeCoste currently is finishing the introductory video for the Centennial Campus Center. She has hopes of picking up a third Golden Reel. “We’ll see if the third time’s lucky for us, too,” she said.

Wildlife Center Video Wins National Award

COROLLA, N.C. (Aug. 17, 2004) — It won’t open until next summer, but the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education is already garnering acclaim.

A 20-minute video greeting visitors to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s educational facility on Currituck Sound has won a prestigious national award from an association of media professionals. The Golden Reel award from the Media Communications Association International recognizes “achievements in media excellence,” according to the organization’s Web site.

“It took about three years to get done,” said Kim DeCoste, who produced the video for the N.C. Agency for Public Telecommunications. “It shows a neat part of our history that not a whole lot of people know about.”

“Currituck: Life by Water’s Rhythms” depicts the powerful role of Currituck Sound in both natural and human history. Separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the thin Outer Banks, Currituck Sound abounds with freshwater fish, waterfowl and other game.

Taking advantage of this natural splendor has been a lengthy succession of humans — from Native Americans to European colonists to wealthy Northern industrialists whose lavish hunt clubs dotted the sound. For today’s barrier island residents, tourism and outdoor recreation have all but displaced fishing, boat building and decoy carving in the local culture and economy.

The video uses documentary techniques that should be familiar to PBS viewers: sepia-toned archive photos, animation, even costumed historical re-enactment. The purpose of the crash course in all things Currituck is to “orient visitors to where they are,” said Ginger Williams, chief of the Wildlife Commission’s Division of Conservation Education.

The Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education is due to open in summer 2005. Its neighbors on the sound side of Corolla include Currituck Lighthouse and the Whalehead Club, a former private hunting enclave converted into a local heritage museum.

The Wildlife Commission facility will feature exhibits celebrating Currituck Sound’s culture of hunting, fishing and other natural resources-related pursuits, as well as the Outer Banks’ wildlife and unique ecology. The education center currently provides programs ranging from kayaking and fishing courses to environmental science.

The video will be one of the first attractions that visitors to the Outer Banks Center will see. “It will give a framework to view the exhibits,” said DeCoste, the video’s producer. “It’s not trying to answer all their questions. Hopefully, it will raise a few questions.

“That was my objective going in,” she added. “That’s what video is good at. It’s not so good at showing details, but the big picture. And feelings. Hopefully, by the end of it viewers will have a sense of kinship with the sound.”

She succeeded, if the Golden Reel award is any indication. The media association’s top honor recognizes creativity and technical skill at the highest levels for government, nonprofit and corporate external communications.

The Golden Reel was not DeCoste’s first. In 1998, she won for a guest video at the Wildlife Commission’s first public facility: the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education. Located in Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, the Pisgah Center’s exhibits and programming focus on mountain wildlife and habitats.

A third regional Wildlife Commission facility, the Centennial Campus Center for Wildlife Education, also is due to open in 2005 at N.C. State University in Raleigh. Its concentration will be on wildlife in urban and suburban habitats.

DeCoste currently is finishing the introductory video for the Centennial Campus Center. She has hopes of picking up a third Golden Reel. “We’ll see if the third time’s lucky for us, too,” she said.