MCTV & GateWay CC Librarian Win International Award for Clever PSA
Stan Pirog, GateWay Community College librarian, teams up with MCTV to win Platinum Ava Award
PHOENIX, Arizona – Every year judges from the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals wade through thousands of media entries to select the best audiovisual pieces for one of the communication industry’s top honors – the international Ava Award. This year, Maricopa Colleges Television (MCTV) brought home four Ava Awards including one earned with the help of Stan Pirog, faculty librarian at GateWay Community College. Pirog helped MCTV claim the Ava Award for Best Commercial (for an academic institution) with the comedic and informative “Ask A Librarian” PSA he starred in, wrote, edited and helped to direct. Pirog said the award is a surprise honor that seems surreal after all of the work that went into making it.
The comedic “Ask A Librarian” commercial features Pirog as a man in a full body cast needing help with a school project. Thankfully, he is able to find out about the “Ask A Librarian” service that allows Maricopa Community College students to chat online with a librarian 24 hours a day. The piece airs on a regular basis on MCTV, the MCCD TV station. The commercial was filmed on the GateWay campus and Pirog not only acted the part of an injured man, but he continued on with the project despite some real life health problems. In fact, he helped to edit the commercial after checking himself out of the ICU – against medical advice.
“It’s not every day a librarian gets to make a commercial, so I left the hospital but returned the next day (after the editing); but this little stunt cost me $1,000 because the hospital charged me to be re-admitted,” Pirog said. “I consider myself to be very ‘invested’ in this project. I think it was all worth it – after all, how often does one receive an international award for one’s first and only go at making a commercial?”
To watch the “Ask A Librarian” PSA and see a detailed history of the project and those involved, visit http://www.youtube.com/user/azstanp. For more information on the PSA or GateWay’s library services, e-mail Stan Pirog at pirog@gatewaycc.edu or call 602-286-8456.
Stan getting ready for his acting debut.