How the Blumey Awards Inspired 2024 Student Reporter Winner to Launch His Own Business
Nov 19, 2024 / Blog
For Brody Martin, recent Central Academy of Technology and Arts (CATA) graduate, the Blumey Awards represent something extra special.
“I think other than like Christmas, it was… the best time of the year,” says Martin, a three-time nominee and the 2024 winner of the Blumey Award for Best Student Reporter.
(Brody Martin, 2024 Blumey Awards Best Student Reporter Winner)
For three years, Martin experienced the annual spring ceremony — which showcases the extraordinary talent of local and regional high school musical theater students — from an unusual perspective.
He got to watch it all come together and help tell the story.
From honing his media and communication skills with hands-on learning opportunities to making new friends to sharing original behind-the-scenes content from one of the biggest nights in the Queen City, Martin says the whole Blumey Student Reporter experience was “amazing.”
And inspiring, too.
Martin recently launched his own photography and videography company, Captures By Brody, tapping into a passion he discovered, thanks to the Blumeys.
As a Student Reporter finalist, he loved getting “to peer behind the curtain” and see all the work that goes into putting together an entire awards show, full of live performances, in a week.
“There's such intricate costumes and all the choreography and all the lights and it makes really, really cool moments to take photos of,” he says. “And I think that is what initially inspired me to take this path because that was just incredible.
“And so after the Blumeys, I went back to CATA and I started doing some photos for the musicals and the shows there. I did a whole photo shoot for ‘[Natasha, Pierre &] The Great Comet [of 1812].’ We did three days of, like, all the actors, the pit, the crew behind it and that was very fun, as well… But the Blumeys were definitely that one moment I said, like, ‘This is what I need to do… this is so much fun.’”
Of course there’s a ton of work involved in starting your own business. Martin has already established Captures By Brody as an official LLC (Limited Liability Company) and has been taking on various clients to gain more experience — in everything from weddings and family portraits to senior portraits and live music events.
“The work I'm doing is very fulfilling,” he says. “And I definitely am looking for all experiences right now. I think down the line I may try and tailor to just one specific facet of it, like maybe just weddings or just families or whatever but right now… I'm definitely trying to feel it all out and see where it takes me.”
Photography is currently a side hustle for Martin, on top of a full time job at Target. He considers this period a “gap year,” during which he intends to enroll in business management courses available to Target employees and save money with the hope of attending college sometime down the road.
“When high school was over, I had this big internal debate,” he says. “…One side said I should go to college and I should really, like, work on learning before hopping right into it. But I have a very ambitious side to me… that loves to act before thinking which, you know, is a bit dangerous to have sometimes.”
But an eagerness to learn by doing and a willingness to take risks are also great assets for an entrepreneur. It’s an approach to life Martin seems to have honed throughout his high school years, whether experimenting with writing forms like short stories and screenwriting, making the daily CATA school announcements with flair, or trying to start a podcast with friends.
And certainly Martin’s got tenacity. He is one of only a handful of students in the Student Reporter program’s history who participated three consecutive years, taking on the extracurricular writing and content creation demands that come along with it.
What’s it like winning a Blumey Award?
Martin says it felt like time stopped when he walked on stage to accept his award. The Blumey Awards were something he had dreamed about participating in since he began attending theater programs at Matthews Playhouse, around age 10.
“It was always such a big thing ‘cause when you're at the Matthews Playhouse, everyone's like obsessing over it,” he says. “It's like the biggest thing in theater when you're there and so to me it felt like the Oscars.
(Brody Martin accepting the Best Student Reporter award during the 2024 Blumey Awards Ceremony at Belk Theater)
“And so actually for the first two years being nominated was already such, like, a huge deal to me but then the third year, just having… the weight of the previous two nominations but also all the excitement from when I was a kid and then actually winning the award was such, like, an emotional moment.
"It was the coolest thing ever… literally a highlight of my life just going on the stage and giving my speech. … It's so cool to be able to win that award and feel like all the work you've done has… finally come to fruition.”
Other Highlights of the Blumey Student Reporter program
For Martin, many of his favorite aspects of the Student Reporter program involved hands-on learning. Among them, the annual Student Reporter Workshop presented by local industry professionals, who share real life advice on fields as diverse as print journalism, radio and TV broadcasting, podcasting and digital content creation. [Full disclosure: I’ve served on this panel twice and helped judge written reviews for the competition].
“I still use the tips that I learned from those workshops today when I'm doing my own projects,” Martin says. “... It's really useful to kind of just dig into their minds… because they've been doing it for so many more years than we have.”
As a Student Reporter, Martin worked on his writing and content creation skills. Participants attend three local high school musical theater productions and create two written reviews and one new media project of their choice, such as a podcast, a vlog or a TikTok video, recounting their experience. Those submissions are critiqued by a panel of industry judges to determine the Blumey Student Reporter finalists and winner. Participants also compete with other regional Student Reporter programs for a chance to go to the national Jimmy Awards in New York City.
Martin got to really dive into social media content creation as a finalist for the Student Reporter Blumey Award. He says he enjoyed the opportunity to learn from Blumenthal Arts’ professionals and work alongside the other student critics to capture behind-the-scenes footage, leading up to the awards ceremony.
“They give you a few things they want, like some… photos and poses they're looking for but ultimately, after that, they kind of give you free rein to explore your own creative process,” Martin says. “And so it really makes you feel like you're like this big time social media manager and… it's all up to you to… get that coverage for the ceremony.”
Martin continues to build on his skills.
He recently reunited with several other Blumey Student Reporter alumni to check out Blumenthal’s new immersive experience, “Space Explorers: THE INFINITE.” He crafted an impressive 1½ minute long video recapping his visit.
Martin hopes they can continue to meet up periodically, despite living far apart from one another, to review other local arts events around the Charlotte area.
Martin encourages other high school theater students to apply for the Blumey Reporter program, which is open to students in 16 counties in the greater Charlotte region, including in North and South Carolina.
“Even if writing isn't your biggest thing, it will become it after you take this program,” he says. “It's so much fun and then, you know, the benefits of getting to [be a finalist] is just amazing.”
He says the experience also offers more than journalism practice.
“You'll make so many connections and you can really dive into the industry because all of the professionals that work the Blumeys are so, so experienced and it's like a big web of connections that you get access to while you're there.”
“I would definitely say go out there, apply to the program and have some fun… because it's, like, the time of your life.”