Live at the red carpet: Students get a chance to talk with the stars

By ­­­Kelly Wiley

Ever thought about being on the other side of the television during an award show, say the Oscars? Well today might be the day — microphone in hand — that the stars actually talk to you.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and mtvU have joined together to give two lucky college students the chance to go to Los Angeles for the Oscars, stand on the red carpet with the stars, and go backstage to meet with celebrities — all while representing college students around the world.

“We just thought the Academy Awards is obviously one of the biggest annual events in the world,” said Leslie Unger, director of communications for the Academy. “It’s a news event that has tremendous media interest from all over the world and we thought it would be a fun and unique opportunity to allow a team of college journalists to cover this event and see the magnitude of it.”

Although the deadline for submissions is quickly approaching, Unger said students still have time because all video submissions can be uploaded online or mailed.

In a two-minute video, applicants should make the best argument as to why he or she would be the best or most interesting student to represent college media at the Oscars, Unger said. In the video, each team, consisting of an anchor and a videographer, should tell viewers why they­ should be on the red carpet with the stars.

“We are looking for people who will take good advantage of this opportunity and take advantage of the news,” she said. “We are not looking for goofs, but that does not at all mean that entries can’t be funny. We want people who know that if we put them on the red carpet they are going to take full advantage of that.”

After all the submissions have been received, the Academy along with mtvU will narrow it down to the top 10 videos and post them online; the rest will be decided by college students.

Unger said the voters will select the three best teams to go to L.A., but only one team will make it to the red carpet. However, the decision of who will be standing on the carpet come Oscar night won’t be decided until Friday, Feb. 20, just two days before the red-carpet event.

Everyone on the red carpet pretty much asks the same things, and Unger said she believes that it won’t be any different for college students. They are free to ask whatever they please, just no profanity.

“We are not going to restrict what questions they ask as the stars come down the red carpet,” Unger said. “I just hope they will take advantage of this opportunity and approach it as a professional journalist would.”

For more rules on video submissions go to http://oscars.mtvu.com. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, Jan. 28.

“We hope to widdle it down to a group that the college group will embrace and vote on,” she said. “This really is a fantastic opportunity and they should really approach their entry video keeping in mind what this event is and what this opportunity is.”