By Isabela Rzeznik
Staff Writer

Wade Johnston, a 2002 graduate of Morgan County High School, won a bronze level award from the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA). The three awards are given to three different groups, based upon school size, group one, two and three, with Johnston’s video placing in group two. The award levels are gold, silver and bronze. Johnston received the award for the 2011 Upstate Volleyball Intro Video that he shot.

After graduating from Georgia College and State University with a degree in mass communication in 2007, Johnston spent almost six years attempting to break into the video production industry specifically for athletics. As a high school student Johnston played tennis and became involved in technology, learning the basics of video editing. He watched ESPN growing up and knew that he wanted to be involved in making sports videos. Through assertive networking Johnston was finally able to seize the position of athletics video director at the University of South Carolina Upstate, where he shot the award-winning video. Johnston is now working at the University of Memphis in Tennessee as the athletics’ web videographer, where he is in charge of “everything broadcast-wise.”

“In this field, there is no nine to five,” said Johnston of his chosen career path. At U of M, Johnston works with a team of three. Other schools usually average about eight people on their video production team. At USC Upstate, he was by himself. It goes without saying that he works intensely and that he is passionate about what he does. When he did a surprise screening of his video for the volleyball team, the team members cried. It was also the third most watched video on USC Upstate’s Athletics YouTube channel. “You get to see behind the scenes that no one ever sees,” said Johnston of the perks of the job, including being able to see the players and the game from a completely different perspective, not to mention some free travel and covered expenses.

As for the future, Johnston sees that the structure of the athletic video industry changing since, as he says, “Athletic video departments are becoming small production companies.” He also sees technology becoming increasingly flexible. Johnston plans to stick around for those changes and to continue achieving in his industry, going where his work takes him. Congratulations!  

Printed in the August 23, 2012 edition