A video on Waites Island produced by Coastal Carolina University has won a Special Merit Award in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III Advancement Awards program.

The video was produced and directed by David Russell with production assistance from Jason Hughes. Russell, a Coastal alumnus, works in Media Services, and Hughes is a graphic artist in the Office of Marketing Communications. It was selected for the special award from 30 entries.

Other video awards went to the College of William and Mary, the University of Alabama, the University of Georgia and the University of Miami, among others.

The Waites Island video will be placed in the CASE III archives at CASE International in Washington, D.C.

Waites Island, a pristine barrier island on the Atlantic coast, provides a natural laboratory for the university’s extensive study in marine science and wetlands biology. The 1,062-acre property, which includes marshland and upland forests, was donated to the university in the early 1990s.

The island is the site for a proposed field research center that will be operated by Coastal’s Burroughs & Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies. Raising funds for construction of the research center is part of the 50th Initiatives Campaign that Coastal has implemented as part of its 50-year anniversary.