A class project turned out to be much more for two Southeastern students, when they found out their documentary, entitled “Glazed; The University Donuts Story” was not only nominated, but won an Emmy award for student productions. Stephen Pfeil and Calvin Nix, Jr. created the approximately seven-minute long piece about the University Donuts shop as an in-class project, but was also aired on the Southeastern Channel series, “Cinematheque.” The documentary interviewed University Donut shop employees, customers and local students who were given a University Donut donut as a taste test. The documentary also went in to the economic trials and tribulations of a small restaurant business, and the kind of impact a business such as University Donuts has on a community.

Pfeil talked of some of the challenges of producing this particular documentary. “Well, first overall it was on location shooting at a restaurant,” said Pfeil. “We had to interview people who didn’t want to be interviewed, and get footage of people while they’re eating food, which is kind of an awkward time to film people at all.”

Pfeil also noted the time constraints of the business as a challenge.

“Because it’s a donut shop, they opened at 5 o’clock in the morning, and then it takes a few hours to get the donuts ready, so if you wanted to get shots of them making donuts without interruptions you would have to get there around 1:30 or 2 o’clock in the morning,” said Pfeil. “One film shoot I did I got there around 2 o’clock in the morning and stayed until around six and then went to class all day.”

“Words really couldn’t express how I felt the moment I won, but a feeling of gratefulness came upon me,” said Nix.

For the Southeastern Channel and the communications department, this marks their seventh Emmy in the last six years, according to general manager Rick Settoon. Among those were two student Emmys, including one in 2006, and were the last of their kind to be won by a student within the Sun Coast region.

“These are the last Emmys to be won that have been won by any university in the Sun Coast Region,” said Settoon. “In other words, out of all the universities in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Puerto Rico.

“I think Stephen had a wonderful, creative vision for this project,” said Settoon. “He and Calvin both worked really hard to pull it off. It’s really creative, informative and, most important of all, entertaining.”