RTA Media students accept title for best webcast production at annual Ontario Universities Athletics awards

Rams Live, a student-led broadcasting partnership between Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Athletics and Recreation and the RTA Media Production program received the Ontario Universities Athletics (OUA) award for Best Webcast Production for the fourth time in seven years. Additionally, RTA Media student Magdalena Grammenopoulos won the award for Outstanding Promotional Video for her promotional video 'Critelli Comeback, Rams.'

For the last decade, TMU Athletics has partnered with RTA School of Media to produce and broadcast home games at a professional, TV-ready level. Alongside the staff, faculty and volunteers that keep the broadcast running is a dedicated team of RTA Media Production students that take the lead on Rams Live. This year, the team was recognized for their hard work at the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) award ceremony.

The OUA C.H.A.M.P awards recognizes outstanding marketing and promotional achievements across all Ontario university's sports leagues. The annual awards cover excellence in event hosting, social media promotion and web hosting, and act as a yearly reminder of the hard work and dedication taking place off-camera.

Rams Live brought home the award for Best Webcasting Production for their work over the 2021-2022 school year. The student-led team produced an impressive 55 professionally-crafted basketball, hockey and volleyball broadcasts that made each event accessible to a broader audience. What’s more impressive is this is the fourth time Rams Live has won this award, securing the title in the 2014-2015, 2016-2016 and 2018-2019 seasons.

This year, Rams Live was supported by over 80 student employees, volunteers, and faculty members. Owing in part to the success of the broadcast is the technology that was available to the team as a part of the RTA Media program's impressive suite of industry-grade equipment. This allowed the team to film webcasting productions on par with live-television sporting events. The production team boasts multi-cam functionality employing four to seven cameras per event, instant replay, split-screen video and an entire catalogue of unique capabilities to make for an impressive webcasting production.

"With representation from all years and all programs of RTA School of Media, time and again Rams Live is a clear example of the amazing experiential learning opportunities provided by The Creative School," said Shawn Haswell, Manager of Operations and Administration with RTA. "But what really makes us proud is seeing what our incredible students can do with those opportunities -- pandemic or not."

In addition to Rams Live winning Best Webcast Production, an RTA Media Production student hired by Athletics and who worked alongside the Rams Live team, Magdalena Grammenopoulos, brought home the award for Outstanding Promotional Video. Grammenopoulos was recognized for her work on the 'Critelli Comeback, Rams' video, which featured highlights of the Rams women's basketball team coming back from a 22-point deficit to win the prestigious Critelli Cup.

Alongside the prestige of winning titles and awards, Rams Live provides RTA Media students with the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in live broadcasting, providing them with the skills necessary to launch a career in the industry. Partnerships like these foster a transdisciplinary approach to learning and enable industry-ready graduates to launch their careers.

About The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University 

The Creative School is a dynamic faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University making a difference in new, unexplored ways. Comprised of Canada’s top professional schools and transdisciplinary hubs in media, communication, design and cultural industries, The Creative School offers students an unparalleled global experience in the heart of downtown Toronto.