9/9/96

CONTACT: Arthur Cromwell will be in New York City for the Emmy Awards ceremony Sept. 10-15. He will be available after Sept. 15 at (614) 592-3529.

ATHENS, Ohio -- An Ohio University doctoral student and alumnus has been nominated for a National News and Documentary Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Arthur Cromwell, a Ph.D. candidate in telecommunications, has been nominated for his work on "Richard Wright -- Black Boy," a documentary about the life of author Richard Wright. Cromwell was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft Researchers," one of several special awards to be presented at a ceremony in New York City Wednesday night.

Cromwell was an associate producer on the film and is nominated for his research for the documentary. This is the first time a telecommunications student at Ohio University has been nominated for this national award.

The film, which was originally telecast on public television over Labor Day weekend in 1995, is a biography of Wright, author of "Native Son" and "Black Boy."

Wright was born in Jackson, Miss. in 1908. He later moved to Chicago and then to New York, where he lived when "Native Son," his most famous work, was published. A member of the Communist party, Wright left the United States for Paris in 1948 to escape anti-Communist sentiments in his native country. He lived in Paris until he died in 1960.

The film was supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the British Broadcasting Corporation. It was directed by Madison Davis Lacy and his group, Firethorn Productions.

Cromwell received a bachelor's degree in history from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and a master's degree in telecommunications from Ohio University. He currently teaches in telecommunications at Ohio University.