The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and mtvU, MTV’s 24-hour college network, have announced that Terry Stackhouse and Zach Cusson from Emerson College are the Grand Prize winners of the "Oscar Correspondent Contest." As part of their prize, Stackhouse and Cusson will receive a spot on the red carpet for the 2010 Academy Awards arrivals on Sunday, March 7, and will have access to the backstage press rooms and the Governors Ball. Oscar coverage from the winning team will be posted on mtvU.com and MTVNews.com the week of March 8.
The winners were selected from an initial group of ten semifinalists from the contest entries. Later on, following an online competition and vote, the group was narrowed down to three.
The three finalist teams were flown to Los Angeles, where they have been covering Academy Awards pre-events such as the Animated Feature Symposium, Foreign Language Film Award Nominees Photo Op, the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Symposium, and the Governors Ball preview.
The winning team was selected through a second mtvU online poll and evaluation by a panel composed of Academy staff and professional entertainment journalists. The journalists were Jess Cagle from Entertainment Weekly, Sandy Cohen from the Associated Press and Bonnie Tiegel from Entertainment Tonight and The Insider.
Runners-up Rachel Berry and Christian Hartnett of Chapman University, and Brandon McCaskill and Kiarra Hart of Florida A&M University earned bleacher seats along the red carpet, where they will be able to watch guest arrivals. They also will receive admission to the 2010 Bleacher Fan Oscar Viewing Party, sponsored by Kodak, at the historic El Capitan Theatre. Kodak provided each of the finalists with a Kodak Zi8 pocket video camera and a Kodak EasyShare M381 digital camera.
The 2010 Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 7 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center. In the United States, it'll be televised live by ABC. The Oscar presentation will also be televised live in more than 200 territories worldwide.