Canyon Crest Academy alum wins Emmy College Television award

A woman who grew up in Del Mar and attended Canyon Crest Academy has been honored with a prestigious filmmaking award.

Becky Prolman, 25, a Chapman University graduate, won the Children’s Television Programming distinction at the Emmy College Television Awards on May 24 for her senior project titled “A Taylor’s Story.”

The award was presented to her by popular television personality and scientist Bill Nye.

The film, in which Prolman served as executive producer, follows a 15-year-old girl with cancer who spends Halloween night out with her friends. She decides whether to go through with an experimental trial treatment or spend her last days living life to the fullest, Prolman said.

“The film was written by the director, Alex Yonks, and I was drawn to produce this film because the story touched my heart,” Prolman said, adding it took eight months to produce. “We made it our goal to raise additional funds to donate to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, and were able to donate $2,000. It was important to both myself and the director to give back to the community through the making of the film.”

Prolman — who first got into filmmaking while attending CCA, where she graduated from in 2010 — said she was encouraged by a faculty member at Chapman to submit “A Taylor’s Story” into the contest.

“The faculty at Chapman does a great job of helping us find contests and festivals that are a good fit for our films,” she said. “It is an absolute honor to have won and have the work recognized by professionals in the film and television industry.”

Madeline Di Nonno, chair of the Television Academy Foundation, said in a press release that the College Television Awards aims to recognize “the exceptional work of these diverse students and leverage our platform to spotlight the next generation of creators and executives in the television industry.”

In a recorded interview with Nye following her award, Prolman said she hopes to work more with social emotional learning in her films because she believes children should learn how to understand their feelings, how to communicate their feelings and how to have compassion for others.

Currently, she is pursuing a job with a company that teaches social emotional learning to children and teens.

She said she wants to create films and television shows that “act as a catalyst for positive change in our society.”

To see a video of Prolman accepting her award, visit https://bit.ly/2rv2snC. To view her interview with Nye, visit https://bit.ly/2stccvT.