University of Memphis communication professor Steven Ross and a former student both received regional Emmy awards in St. Louis Saturday. Ross's film, Oh Freedom After While, was judged Best Documentary. U of M alumna Andrea Torrence received an Emmy for her work as an editor with St. Louis CBS affiliate KMOV-TV.

The awards are from the Mid-America chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences.

Torrence received a bachelor's degree in communication arts from the University in 1990.

Ross produced his hour-long film about a 1939 strike by evicted sharecroppers in the Missouri Bootheel. He used hundreds of photographs taken by renowned American photographers and archival newsreel footage never before seen by an audience.

The documentary had already received the 1999 Tennessee Independent Film Makers Award and the Juried Award of Distinction at the 1999 University Film and Video Association National Conference.

"It's always nice getting recognized," said Ross. "It was a total surprise to see Andrea again. It made me feel good to be up there, but it also felt good to see a student who had succeeded."

Ross was also nominated earlier for a national Emmy for his 1993 documentary, At the River I Stand, which he produced in cooperation with David Appleby and Allison Graham.

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