HBCU Filmmaker Contest Winners Announced

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Two Winston Salem-State University (WSSU) students have been  named winner of the 2011 Honda Battle of the Bands (HBOB) HBCU Filmmaker contest.  
 
   Leslie Miles, a WSSU junior, mass communications major from Mt. Olive, NC, and Antonio de Graffenreaidt, a WSSU senior interdisciplinary studies major from Henderson, NC, have won an all-expense paid trip to Atlanta to help document the 2011 Honda Battle of the Bands Invitational Showcase on January 29 in the Georgia Dome.
 
   In November, WSSU’s Red Sea of Sound Marching Band accepted a coveted invitation to participate the prestigious (HBOB) Invitational Showcase.  As one of the eight winning band programs selected for the showcase, WSSU will be awarded $20,000 by American Honda for its music program, in addition to the $1,000 grant they received for participation in the pre-qualifying Celebration Tour.
 
   The HBOB Invitational Showcase is the world's largest and most highly anticipated Historically Black College or University (HBCU) musical event and scholarship program of its kind.  The program, which marks its ninth year in 2011, is a platform to highlight and showcase the heritage and showmanship of HBCU college marching bands and an important facet of HBCU culture – music education.  A spot in the HBOB Invitational Showcase is as significant to a HBCU marching band as a trip to the Super Bowl is to a professional football team.  It is a singular showcase of eight Black college marching bands in one place at one time.