UVSC students win Student Grammy Awards

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UVSC digital media students recently won awards from the Audio Engineering Society’s annual Student Grammy Award Competition in New York City. The competition had 35-40 schools competing and had judges from industry professionals from major record labels.

Sean Wolsey and Jeremy Redd participated in the hardware design competition and took third place in circuit design. Miles Fulwider, Rob Merritt and Andy Porter also participated in the competition. UVSC graduate Craig Sowby was also in the competition. He received first place in the pop/rock category and second place in world/folk category.

"This really brings home the fact that we can win awards against some very major and well-funded competitors," said Mike Wisland in a press release. He is a UVSC professor of digital media. "I think one school had a mixing board that costs more than our whole program, so these were some of the top programs from around the world. But our students were able to take what they learned here and compete."

Sowby in particular has proven himself in the industry. Before graduating from UVSC with degrees in music and business management, he owned Corner House Studio, a recording studio located in his Pleasant Grove home.

Using good but not necessarily top-of-the-line equipment, Sowby recorded and mixed the music for US Ski Team member Bryon Friedman’s CD. Two of the songs off that CD have garnered Sowby first place awards. "It’s not the equipment that makes a good recording," said Sowby in a press release, "Talent and a good ear are more valuable."

This marks the fourth year UVSC has participated in the competition. They have consistently brought home top-three finishes every year and first place finishes three out of four years. Funding for the trip was provided by the Perkins Grant and administrators in UVSC’s career and technical education.