Four MU students are in the running to claim a spot on the red carpet at The 83rd Academy Awards as part of mtvU’s Oscars Correspondent Contest.
The contestants, seniors Erica Coghill, Alex Holley and JP Regan said they heard about the opportunity through a KOMU/Channel 8 Listserv e-mail and could not pass it up.
“This one kind of caught my eye,” Coghill said. “I’ve always been interested in doing entertainment stuff. How many times do you have the opportunity to go to the Oscars?”
The four students are broken up into two student teams — one made up of Coghill and Regan, one consisting of Holley and her friend, sophomore Ryan Brown, who she asked to join her team — and are top 10 finalists in mtvU’s 2011 Oscars Correspondent Contest. Coghill and Holley are reporting on camera for the contest and Regan and Brown serve as cameramen.
If voted into the top three student teams, the teams will be flown to Los Angeles to attend pre-Oscar events, and one team will receive the opportunity to cover the red carpet. Holley-Brown and Coghill-Regan are first and third, respectively, in the contest’s “Average Rating” meter.
“Pretty much all around it’s going to be a great experience if you’re in the top three,” Holley said. “You’ll be in LA. You’ll get a feel for it. You get to go to all of the pre-Oscar events. It’s still a great experience.”
Brown is a member of a rap group, and often films music videos for it. Because of this fact and their friendship, Holley said Brown was a natural choice for her partner [for their submission](http://www.mtvu.com/on-campus/contests-sweepstakes/oscars/alex-holley-and-ryan-brown/). Holley has interviewed comedians D. L. Hughley and Lavell Crawford in the past, something she said should help prove her competence.
“I’ve always wanted to work with entertainment news,” Holley said. “It’s always been a dream of mine. I’ve always been wondering, especially because I’m a senior now, what kind of opportunities I can have. When I saw this competition, I thought it was the perfect opportunity if not to get myself out there, but at least experience it.”
Bogged down by finals and an otherwise busy schedule, Coghill and Regan said they barely had enough time to put together a [submission video](http://www.mtvu.com/on-campus/contests-sweepstakes/oscars/erica-coghill-and-john-regan/), yet alone expect to break the top 10.
“We ended up throwing something together and submitting it, and I’m glad that we did because obviously the outcome has been great,” Coghill said. “This will definitely open a huge door for us. It’s the Oscars — that’s a huge door right there.”
“We came here for journalism, and we’ve really enjoyed working at KOMU,” Regan said. “This was an opportunity for us to really put our skills to use, and an opportunity to represent Mizzou.”
Voting is open until Jan. 28, and can be cast on [mtvU’s website](http://www.mtvu.com/shows/shows-featured-content/oscars-correspondent-contest-top-10/).
“We don’t get to cover really any entertainment news here in Missouri,” Coghill said. “There’s a lot of people out there who say stuff like ‘Oh, I’ve had the opportunity to interview celebrities. I’m experienced at this.’ We’ve never had the opportunity to do this, and this is now our chance. It’s the real deal.”
Both teams agreed that this is the opportunity of a lifetime – something that could not only set them apart from other students, but also provide them with invaluable experience.
“A lot of times the people who have that dream or they’ve been training for something just need one opportunity to get them going,” Holley said. “I feel like this could be the opportunity to start everything.”
