Victoria Licata (BSJ, 2014) has never been one to shy away from the spotlight. In spring 2014 she co-anchored WVU News special edition episode, All Things Social Media, which won a first-place national Emmy Award for Outstanding College Newscast. But lately, Licata has found herself taking on a different role—actress and film promoter.
Last month, her film, Au Milieu, won the Fan Choice Award in the national Campus Movie Fest competition. The film competed against 19 other distinguished student films from around the country to win the $10,000 grand prize.
Licata says she used the skills that she learned at the WVU Reed College of Media to promote the winning film.
“In WVU News, we learned to use social media to promote our stories, said Licata.” Those lessons were extremely useful for promoting the contest to the public and persuading people to watch and vote for our film.”
Licata says she and her team used Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to leverage votes for the Fan Choice Award, which was presented by Western Digital. She says she’s very thankful for the loyalty of her WVU family.
“The friends and family I made at the College of Media have always been so supportive and pushed me to follow my dreams,” said Licata. Their love and support definitely helped us to win the award!”
Before moving on to the national competition, “Au Milieu,” had to win here at home. Last fall, the film won one of the top four CMF Jury Awards at WVU, and Licata won Best Actress.
“Au Milieu” was written, directed and edited by WVU alumna Lauren Schiefelbein. WVU alumnus Kevin Langue is the male actor in the movie.
Currently, Licata is the coordinating producer for Fulcrum Pittsburgh, LLC. She plans to move to Los Angeles in Spring 2016 to pursue an acting career.