The 2012 Country Music Awards wasn’t just for recognizing country music stars. Lipscomb’s own Caitlin Selle was honored with the 2012 CMA Close Up Award of Merit backstage at the show.
The award was created in 2007 to honor the student journalist or photojournalist who demonstrated the most creativity, dedication, and promise in covering the CMA Music Festival on assignment from CMA.
This was the second year Selle, a junior, interned for CMA. She was selected among nine others to be on the “Team of Merit.” The CMA staff voted on which intern from the team had the best work, and the staff chose Selle’s work over all of the others.
Bob Doerschuk, editor of CMA Close Up, presented her with the award during the backstage press conference coverage of the 46th Annual CMA Awards on Thursday, Nov. 1, at Bridgestone Arena.
After the press conference, Selle said she was asked to stay and cover the event for CMA.
“CMA is proud to foster up-and-coming music journalists and photojournalists by offering them the tools and opportunities to hone their skills,” said Wendy Pearl, CMA Vice President of Corporate Communications.
“Caitlin has solid journalistic skills, with plenty of impressive clips in her catalog,” said Doerschuk. “And as a photographer, she shows a rare gift for capturing everyday images, whether of live music or quiet landscapes, with originality and poetic sensibility. The fact that she works extremely well under pressure, with poise, confidence and patience under demanding circumstances, makes her an ideal candidate for our award.”
Selle spoke modestly about her accomplishment, mentioning the talent of the other photojournalists. “I didn’t think I was at that level,” she said.
“The whole time when I was doing this internship I knew that award was out there, and I knew that was kind of the premise of the team,” she said. “But I never actually thought I would get it because I would look at the other photographers, and I just pictured them so much farther ahead.”
While she is in the communication department with a minor in art she said she’s not sure what she wants to do when she graduates in spring 2014. Photography is something she enjoys as a hobby now and isn’t something she’s considering pursuing as a career just yet.
“It really validates me as a photographer,” she said. “It’s an honor to receive the award because they saw promise in my work.”
Video by Kelly Dean