Grey's, True Blood, Modern Family Stars Set for College TV Awards

North Hollywood, CA – The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation unveiled its celebrity presenters for the 33rd College Television Awards, which will take place on March 31 at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood.

Presenters at the gala include top television stars, such as Paul Blackthorne (“The River”), Jennifer Carpenter (“Dexter”), Rachael Leigh Cook (“Perception”), Cat Deeley (host of “So You Think You Can Dance”), Tony Hale (“Arrested Development,” “VEEP”), Russell Hornsby (“Grimm”), Jason Isaacs (“Harry Potter,” “Awake”), Zachary Knighton (“Happy Endings”), Rex Lee (“Suburgatory,” “Entourage”), Lamorne Morris (“New Girl”), Sandra Oh (“Grey's Anatomy”), David Ono (“ABC7 Eyewitness News”), Anna Paquin (“True Blood”), Scott Porter (“Hart of Dixie”), Wilmer Valderrama (“That ‘70s Show,” “Awake”), Snuffy Walden (composer for “Friday Night Lights”), Cress Williams (“Hart of Dixie”) and Ariel Winter (“Modern Family”), among others. Presenters will be joined by co-hosts Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer, stars of TNT’s “Franklin & Bash,” as they award cash prizes to college students from around the country.

Edward Ornelas, a director on the hit series “Grey’s Anatomy,” will be presenting the Directing Award at this year’s event. Last year this award went to Julian Higgins, who has already gone on to direct an episode of “House,” which will air this March. Ornelas also got his start in television through the Television Academy Foundation when he participated in the Foundation’s Summer Internship Program in 1996.

For the second consecutive year, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media is partnering with the Foundation to present the Focus on Diversity and Gender Equality in Children’s Media Award—a $5,000 award for the student producer who best showcases diversity and gender equality for children age 2 to 11 in their work. This also marks the third year that the College Television Awards will include a presentation of the $10,000 Loreen Arbus Focus on Disability Scholarship, made possible by the Loreen Arbus Foundation. The scholarship recognizes student producers who shed light on people with disabilities, helps emerging artists gain recognition and increases visibility for artists with disabilities.

The gala will also include a presentation to HBO of the Innovation in Television Award in recognition of the network’s commitment to cutting-edge programming that routinely sets the bar for young content producers. Previous honorees include Mark Burnett, Nigel Lythgoe, the creators of “Glee” and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. HBO’s president of programming, Michael Lombardo, will accept the award on behalf of HBO.

The Television Academy Foundation’s College Television Awards is a nationwide competition that recognizes excellence in undergraduate and graduate student-produced work in the areas of video, digital, and film production. This year, more than 600 students from 154 schools across the country entered the competition. Out of these submissions, 23 projects across 12 categories will be honored at the star-studded gala in Los Angeles. Tickets to the College Television Awards can be purchased through the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation website.

“The College Television Awards has become a major event in Hollywood, offering tremendous exposure for students who are on their way to becoming future leaders of the television industry,” said Television Academy Foundation Executive Director, Norma Provencio Pichardo. “We’re grateful that so many accomplished television professionals are coming out to help us honor today’s rising stars.”

In addition to providing winners’ work with a tremendous vehicle for exposure, the College Television Awards event provides student winners with unique industry networking opportunities through an exclusive panel of executive producers, showrunners, agents, development executives and managers, who offer students advice as they prepare to pursue their career path. Past winners have gone on to lead successful industry careers, and have even become Primetime Emmy Award winners.

MTV’s Peabody- and Emmy® Award-winning 24-hour college network, mtvU, is serving as the online media partner for the sixth year in a row, hosting online submissions and judging at www.bestfilmoncampus.com. mtvU is the largest and most comprehensive media network for college students, reaching 750 campuses and more than 9 million college students nationwide, including the Best Film on Campus community.