Prestigious film awards are not bestowed only to productions with million-dollar budgets and big-name stars.

Just ask the cast and crew of "An Early October," the second-place winner of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences College Television Award. Made at the University by students, most of whom have graduated, the film bagged second-place honors among 384 entries, a record number for the award, said Price Hicks, director of Educational Programs and Services at the Academy.

"The work was really outstanding and this year was a really strong year," Hicks said."They're looking for originality . . . a story well-told."

"Technical competence, creativity and imagination are important, something the judges would like to watch from beginning to end," Hicks said. Apparently the judges, all of whom are Academy members, found what they were looking for in "An Early October."

"The reason why this film won is because it deals with racism," Paul Durazzo said. Durazzo played the role of Cam and was primarily responsible for lighting the film.

"The Academy looks for social issues. That's a big part of what they look for. 'An Early October' tries to deal with them in a mature, adult fashion, especially one that's done with some technical competence," he said.

According to the film's writer, director and editor, Kevin Rolly, "the film explores inherent prejudice." The story involves two best friends, one African-American, Will, and one white, Ray, who are acting in the same show. During a rehearsal in which the show's director asks them to improvise on the script, Ray inadvertantly makes a racial slur. The rest of the film involves Ray's attempt to reconstruct their friendship.

"Ray is a closeted bigot. He wasn't an outward bigot, like being a Ku Klux Klan member," said Barry Lee Mackall (junior-speech communication), who played the part of Will in the film. "I definitely saw a parallel between this script and a relationship with one of my college roommates," he said. "That's why it was so easy to play."

This drama was in production during the last school year, and was completed in November.

Rolly is currently working as second assistant editor on the feature film "Hitman," starring James Belushi, Sherilyn Fenn, Forrest Whittaker and Sharon Stone (who played Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife in "Total Recall").

Rolly said he was especially happy with the award, given the nature of the competition. The first-place winners in the drama category were graduate students from the American Film Institute, so "An Early October" was actually the first place winner among undergraduate films.

The first-place winners receive a statue and $2,000. Rolly, as second-place winner, will receive a plaque and a $1,000 prize. He is planning to attend the awards ceremony on March 10 in Los Angeles, because he will be there working on "Hitman."

Most of the people involved with the project expressed hope that their work on this award-winning film would help them in their prospective careers.