The Center for Early Childhood Education (CECE) at Eastern Connecticut State University was recently awarded a “Telly Award” for one of its video productions. The video, “A Study of the Play of Dual Language Learners in an English-Speaking Classroom,” received a Bronze Telly Award in the Non-Broadcast–General Education category. 

This year’s recognition is Eastern’s seventh Telly Award, a program started in 1979 to recognize outstanding television and video productions on all platforms. The 2021 awards received 12,000 entries from all 50 states and five continents.

Written and produced by CECE Director Julia DeLapp, the video highlights findings from a study conducted by Early Childhood Education and Communication double major Stefanie Dominguez ’18, and discusses ways that preschool teachers can support the social engagement of dual language learners.

The video features interviews with Dominguez; her research mentor Jeffrey Trawick-Smith, professor emeritus of early childhood education; and retired Education Professor Ann Anderberg, an expert in bilingual education. The video also showcases footage from Eastern’s Child and Family Development Resource Center (CFDRC) and the Windham Early Childhood Center.

In 2018, Dominguez’s honors thesis — “A Qualitative Study of the Play of Dual Language Learners in Preschool” —  was published in the Early Childhood Education Journal. The highly ranked, refereed journal analyzes trends, policies and practices in early childhood education for children ranging from birth to age eight.

Telly Award winners represent work from some of the most respected advertising agencies, television stations, production companies and publishers from around the world. Gold winners in this year’s competition include Nickelodeon and Walt Disney Company. Videos in the competition are judged by the Telly Awards Judging Council, composed of more than 200 leading experts from the video production industry.

“It’s gratifying to have the quality of our video production work recognized with such a prestigious award, but it’s especially meaningful for a video that features research conducted by one of our undergraduate students to receive this kind of attention,” said DeLapp.

“Students who have meaningful research opportunities as part of their education become more thoughtful teachers because they’ve spent so many hours observing children’s behavior and analyzing how different teaching strategies affect children’s development. I’m really proud of our video production staff for their skills in creating an award-winning video, but I’m also thrilled that the award might result in more teachers and researchers learning about Stefanie’s fascinating research.”

DeLapp also saluted the work of Sean Leser, former CECE videographer, for editing the video and creating the video design. “Though the working conditions of last year proved to be challenging, our team was once again able to bring together Eastern faculty, alumni and powerful research to create a very strong video,” said Leser. “I hope that students and educators alike find it to be useful.”

DeLapp said that both Leser and Ken Measimer, CECE media production specialist, contributed videography to the project, which also contains research footage captured by undergraduate research assistants. “As always, CFDRC Director Niloufar Rezai and the teachers in the center also deserve credit for their ongoing participation in research and video-making,” said DeLapp.

Kerin Griffin, who was the student production assistant on Eastern’s first Telly Award-winning video in 2010, posted a comment on the CECE website about this year’s honor: “Congratulations! I have my Telly Award from 11 years ago on my shelf in my office. Another well-earned award!”

This is the CECE’s seventh Telly Award. Previous awards included:

• “Welcome to the Center for Early Childhood Education” (2017)
• “Fun Mud Day” (2016)
• “Inspiring Lessons” (2013)
• “Investigating Balls” (2013)
• “The Importance of Play” (2011)
• “Five Predictors of Early Literacy” (2010)