NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES
MICHIGAN CHAPTER
2025
Submissions start January 14, 2025
Eligibility Period
March 1, 2023 — February 28, 2024
ENTRY DEADLINE
February 28, 2025
NOMINATIONS
March 28, 2025
AWARDS CEREMONY
April 27, 2025
MEET THE PROS
Meet Emmy® Award-winning broadcast journalism and production professionals who work in news, sports, and documentary production in a series of question-and-answer breakout sessions.
Learn all about their professions, education and training, and how they got started in the industry.
College Representatives
Explore academic programs and talk with professors and representatives from Michigan colleges and universities.
Ticket deadline:
April 22, 2024
Minors attending must be accompanied by a parent, guardian, or high school teacher.
PRESENTERS
Hannah Byrd
Producer/Director
Hannah Byrd is a freelance producer and director in New York City, where she works in non-fiction production. She is a 2019 graduate of Michigan State University, where she pursued her degree in film production and worked at WKAR Public Media. Starting as an office intern, she slowly worked her way to the production floor, and then became an associate producer at the PBS affiliate. It was during this time she also fell in love with documentaries. Her short documentary, RISE, went on to win 19 festival awards and selections internationally, including Best In Festival at the Wolf Tree Film Festival. She also produced the documentary What Happened to Henry, which won a Michigan NATAS Student Production Award. After the pandemic she made the jump to the Big Apple. Most recently she has produced for the Multichannel News Wonder Women LA Awards show, the PBS special Afrofantastic, Digital Circus Media’s I Wanna Be Sedated, as well as serving as Post Associate Producer for Hulu’s docu-series, Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence. Hannah currently lives in Manhattan with her fiancé and puppy, Beebo.
Will Bly
Videographer
William Bly Jr. grew up in Harper Woods, Michigan, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, going on to be a news photographer at 9&10 News in Cadillac, Michigan. As a photographer he covered news stories from local crime to Friday night sports highlights. After three years of being a daily news photographer, Will was brought into the creative video team associated with 9&10 News, Mane Content. There he created commercials for local businesses and created On the Gridiron, an in-depth sports show that followed the Cadillac Vikings football team throughout their season. After a few more years in Cadillac working with Mane Content, Will moved back home and filmed high school football, where he applied and received the opportunity to work with the University of Michigan football team. There he shoots and produces content with the football team as an associate creative videographer.
Madalyn Buursma
Digital Reporter, WOOD TV8
Madalyn Buursma is a digital reporter for WOOD TV8 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, covering business, development, and housing. She previously worked as a site producer for woodtv.com. She graduated from Calvin University in 2019, where she worked as the features editor for Calvin Chimes. She also previously worked as an author’s assistant at En-Gedi Resource Center. Madalyn grew up in Holland, Michigan, and currently lives in Grand Rapids.
Mike Castellucci
Multimedia Journalist and Professor, MSU
Mike Castellucci has received numerous Emmy® Awards and accolades for his work in broadcast television and is widely considered a pioneer of mobile journalism. Castellucci has honed the craft of shooting and producing news stories and entire programs using iPhones as his camera. He’s worked at broadcast affiliates in Dallas, San Diego, and Los Angeles, and has been honored with 28 Emmy® and four Edward R. Murrow Awards. As a Professor of Practice and Artist-in-Residence, Castellucci teaches all aspects of digital storytelling to students in Michigan State University’s School of Journalism. His new program Distinctly Michigan airs on WKAR Public Media. Castellucci graduated with a B.A. in communications and a minor in journalism from the University of Colorado.
Asya Lawrence
Multimedia Journalist, FOX 47
Asya Lawrence is the Grand Ledge and Delta Township neighborhood reporter for FOX 47 in Lansing, Michigan. She graduated from the School of Journalism at Michigan State University in 2022. While a student, she came to know the Capital area region well as a member of the J-School’s Focal Point News team, where she reported on stories about campus and the local community. Asya is a native of Southfield, Michigan, and enjoys writing, music, and traveling.
Stephen McGee
Director and Cinematographer
Stephen McGee is a two-time Emmy® Award winning filmmaker based in Detroit, a city he has been documenting for a 20-year passion film project. Resurgo is an interactive, multi-platform phased release of 1.6 million photographs, hundreds of interviews, and thousands of hours of footage detailing Detroit’s transformative period of 2005-2023. As a director and cinematographer, Stephen also produces authentic cinema crafted for commercial and cultural clients including Pure Michigan, National Geographic, Ford Motor Company, Bedrock Detroit, Time Magazine, and others. McGee has traveled to and worked with clients in 30 countries to create a variety of films on social and environmental issues, human rights, and social injustice.
Dimitrius Ramirez
Cinematographer
Dimitri’s Ramirez, a native of Dearborn, Michigan, discovered his passion for cinematography early. While at Dearborn High School, he immersed himself in the WDHS program, filming multiple short films and two feature-length projects. After graduating in 2012, he pursued a degree in Cinema Art + Science at Columbia College Chicago, graduating in 2017. Now, as a cinematographer for Woodward Original, a production company focused on authentic storytelling in the Metro Detroit area, Dimitrius brings his keen organizational skills and adaptability to each project. His goal is to enhance the visual quality of stories rooted in Detroit's cultural fabric, leaving an emotional connection with audiences through his devotion behind the lens.
EVENT LOCATION
Communication Arts and Sciences Building
PARKING
Free parking available in adjacent Trowbridge Ramp #5:
1149 Red Cedar Road, East Lansing, MI 48824
Awards Store
Anyone listed on official SPA nominated or recipient entries may purchase awards.
Nomination Certificates and Crystal Pillar Awards come engraved with entrant’s name and role on entry.