Stone Ridge alumna from Chevy Chase is nominee for 45th College Television Awards

Here comes Lauren Harrington, zooming out of the polished corridors of Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda - that bastion of crisp plaid skirts and Catholic values - straight into the electric glare of the University of Miami newsroom, where the lights are hot, the deadlines are hotter, and the future is being cut and pasted right there on the edit bay! Yes! The Television Academy Foundation, guardian of the Emmy flame, has dropped the hammer on the 45th College Television Awards nominations, and there she is, Lauren Harrington, junior broadcast journalism and media management major, Chevy Chase girl turned Coral Gables dynamo, nominated in the News category for NewsVision (March 6, 2025). Not just nominated—co-writer, lead anchor, script curator, package producer, the whole nine yards! Alongside eleven classmates, no less, because this isn't some lone-wolf operation; this is a full-on newsroom, student-style, live Thursdays at 7 p.m. on UMTV. A full half-hour of local-state-national-international-weather-sports fury, all produced by students who still have midterms hanging over their heads.

On the nominated March 6, 2025, broadcast, the air was thick with the Real-Time Drama of the 21st century:

• Medical Alarm: The first measles case hitting Miami like a biological curveball.
• The Weight of History: A campus vigil for murdered Israeli hostages, handled with the delicate, surgical sensitivity of a veteran correspondent.
• Campus Politics: UM’s ranking with the Anti-Defamation League.
• The Jock Factor: A profile of the new men’s basketball coach.

"I became involved from the earliest-editorial meeting through final-show execution," Harrington says of the broadcast that would win her the nomination. "I anchored alongside co-anchor Christopher Perez and worked closely with the producers, reporters, and the control room to keep timing tight and transitions clean." She doesn't just read a teleprompter; she conducts the chaos of the control room. And on the most dramatic topic of the newscast, Harrington recalls, "I curated my own [video] package for this episode, where I interviewed students who organized a campus vigil honoring Israeli hostages, and I focused on telling that story with sensitivity and letting students’ voices lead."

And now—nomination! Out of over 185 entries from colleges coast to coast, judged by Television Academy members, the same crowd that picks the prime-time Emmys, applying those same ruthless standards: excellence, imagination, innovation. The winners get announced March 28, 2026, red carpet rolling out at the Television Academy in North Hollywood, television stars dropping the envelopes like Willy Wonka golden tickets. 

But before that, two days of professional development—rubbing elbows with media titans, industry leaders, screenings for the Academy brass. Doors swinging open. The Foundation itself, dedicated to inspiring tomorrow's Emmy winners today, is running internships, archiving oral histories, championing the next wave. This isn't just an award; it's a launchpad.

Harrington and her 11 Miami compatriots are proving that the line between "student" and "professional" has been obliterated by sheer, relentless competence. She has ascended from the leafy, pious groves of Bethesda and Chevy Chase to the sun-bleached, neon-glare of Coral Gables, and now—zap!—she is hurtling toward the very epicenter of the American Dream: North Hollywood, California! Will she bring home the trophy? The judges, those grizzled veterans of the Television Academy, have already winnowed down 185 entries to find the cream, the crème de la crème, the Harrington set. A win would merely be the icing on the cake. In a world where the news never sleeps and the screens never dim, here is a young woman—anchor, writer, reporter, leader—proving the next generation can play with the big lights and not blink. The future of television just got a jolt. Stay tuned.