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The University of Tampa's Master of Arts in Social and Emerging Media (MASEM) program held its fourth student exhibition and awards ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 6, at the Scarfone/Hartley Gallery. 

The event was open to the public, featured 24 capstone exhibits and brought in a jury of area professionals to award the most outstanding graduate projects.

The jury members handed out three prizes:

• Best of Show: Abigail Higgins, Student Recipe Network, an app created for college students and recent graduates to share and access easy, budget-friendly recipes

• Second place: Paula Quinones-Roman, Treasured Moon Coffee: Community Through Coffee, Books & Greenery, designed to address the critical issue of social isolation through a unique blend of books, plants and coffee

• Third place: Katherine Porter, An Exploration of Parasocial Relationships within the Sphere of Twitch, curated a Twitch channel identity through aesthetics, interactivity and hierarchy to examine how parasocial bonds influence viewer engagement and community building

The jury commended the overall quality of the work and acknowledged that many projects surpassed the research, strategy and production standards commonly seen in the Tampa Bay business and creative community

Lina Gomez-Vasquez, MASEM’s co-director praised the innovative and diverse projects featured at this year's capstone exhibition. 

“Our students have pushed the boundaries of creativity and technology, producing work that not only reflects their mastery of MASEM core competencies but also addresses real-world challenges with thoughtful, impactful solutions,” she said.

“We are excited to see how they will continue to influence and shape the future in their professional journeys.”

MASEM was launched at UT in the Fall of 2021. The intensive one-year program blends technology and creativity as it prepares students to develop compelling media projects, build sophisticated social media strategies and engage effectively with audiences.

Areas of study include digital storytelling, visual design, audio/video production, emerging media technologies, user experience production, audience and user experience research, media strategy and analytics, motion graphics and visual effects, project management and emerging media policy and law.

For more information about UT's Master of Arts in Social and Emerging Media and to learn how you can participate in the next MASEM Student Exhibition and Awards Ceremony, visit www.ut.edu/graduate-degrees/ma-in-social-and-emerging-media.