Mass communication professor Hallaq wins video award

Idaho State University assistant professor Tom Hallaq of the James E. Rogers Mass Communication Department has won a 2006 Aegis and DV Awards for a 21-minute video produced through his production company, The Black Tag Kompany for the Southeastern Idaho Community Action Agency (SEICAA).

“Coming Home: Mutual Self-Help Housing” was honored in the “Promotional/Sales” category for its outstanding production quality.

The Aegis Awards are the video industry’s premier competition for peer recognition of outstanding video productions and non-network TV commercials. The DV Awards is an international competition recognizing creative and technical achievements in digital video production.    

The video was produced to support the Mutual Self-Help Housing program. The program offers affordable housing to lower-income families by helping participants build their own homes. Mutual Self-Help Housing is a national program sponsored by the USDA – Rural Development office and administered locally through SEICAA.

Hallaq began production in June 2006 by documenting the construction of homes built through the program in American Falls. Interviews were conducted with homebuilders, SEICAA administrators, and other key individuals involved with the program. The video was completed in October 2006 and was put to use immediately by SEICAA.

 “This was a fun, uplifting project to work on,” said Hallaq upon completion of the production. “After spending all this time on the construction sites, I feel like I’m ready to go out and build my own house.”

SEICAA officials expressed excitement about having a video featuring regional participants in the program to help inform others about the benefits of the Mutual Self-Help Housing program.

Hallaq, who is currently a professor of Television Broadcast at ISU, paid some of his students to assist him in the production.

“This is an opportunity to give students a taste of the real-world and how the industry works,” he said. “It will help them be better prepared for their own careers once they move on from the university.”

Hallaq has several years of industry experience prior to coming to the university. He continues to stay active in video production through freelance work in both the Pocatello and Salt Lake City areas.  

Using the initials of his three sons, Hallaq organized The Black Tag Kompany a number of years ago as a way to earn money for his sons’ future education. However, it wasn’t until this project that the company was organized formally through an LLC. Hallaq is the sole employee of the company, using students for freelance work when needed.

Judges for both competitions are seasoned professionals in the industry, each averaging more than 20 year’s experience.

For more information on the video, contact Hallaq at (208) 282-6453, or Halltom@isu.edu or Deb Hemmert, CEO of SEICAA at (208) 232-1114 or dhemmert@seicaa.org.

For information on the awards, visit www.aegisawards.com or www.dvawards.com.