Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s ‘STUDENT ATHLETE’, nominated at the annual Vision Awards 2019

Two-time Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s latest collaboration with HBO SPORTS for the sports documentary STUDENT ATHLETE has been nominated for the 2019 NAMIC Vision Awards by National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications. The awards recognize original programming that is reflective of the lives, spirit, and contributions of people of color that best reflects the ethnic and cultural diversity of the viewing audience.

Illuminating the complex rules of amateur athletics in America and showing how they affect uncompensated athletes and their families, STUDENT ATHLETE, nominated in the SPORTS category, is co-directed by Trish Dalton (“Bordering on Treason”) with the production team spearheaded by NBA superstar and three-time world champion LeBron James, one of today’s most socially responsible and community-minded athletes. Other notable nominees for the annual Vision Awards include Dwayne The Rock Johnson, 2018 BET Awards, Mishel Prada, Sesame Street, The Good Doctor, and A Thousand Words: Michelle Obama to name a few.

Unpaid college athletes generate billions of dollars for their institutions every year. STUDENT ATHLETE unveils the exploitative world of high-revenue college sports through the stories of four young men at different stages of their athletic careers, as well as a coach-turned-advocate and a whistle-blowing shoe rep who exposes the money trail.

The documentary spotlights: former NCAA and NFL coach John Shoop; New Jersey high school basketball phenom Nick Richards, now at the University of Kentucky; Mike Shaw, who played at the University of Illinois and Bradley University; Shamar Graves, a former wide receiver at Rutgers University; and Silas Nacita, a walk-on who played at Baylor University.

The NAMIC Vision Awards extends eligibility to national, network owned and operated, and affiliates of broadcast networks; national and regional cable networks; local origination programs from cable operators; first-run original program syndicators; and VOD content produced for digital platforms. Entries were judged by a distinguished panel of entertainment industry executives.

Judging is based on overall imagery (creative merit, originality, and presentation quality), sensitivity (the consideration given to cultural nuances), writing (the depiction of issues relevant to people of color) and the quality of acting in the performance categories.

STUDENT ATHLETE is an HBO Sports presentation in association with LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Jamal Henderson at SpringHill Entertainment, and Steve Stoute at United Masters; directors, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton; executive producer, Rick Bernstein; supervising producer, Joe Perskie.