News
Oscars fire up college, party promotions
By Robert Marich
Feb. 9, 2009 – The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences is turning on its Oscar promotions today announcing three finalists to serve as college journalists at the event and, separately, 53 cities hosting official Oscar parties.
In the Oscar Correspondent Contest, which is mounted jointly with mtvu, two-person teams from Fordham, Rice and San Diego State universities are finalists. The three finalist teams will fly to Los Angeles for a competition and one will be on the red carpet for the awards Feb. 22.
Mtvu is the university-focused channel from basic cable network MTV, which is owned by Viacom and is a sister company to Paramount Pictures.
In the local Oscar parties, the 53 finalist cities range from (alphabetically) Atlanta to Washington DC, with Concord, NH; Omaha and Sacramento among the cities in between. The parties are fund raisers in conjunction with ABC Television’s coverage.
The local parties raised $3.3 million last year and have been mounted since 1994. The mtvu college correspondent competition is new this year.