FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Dale Carpenter, professor of journalism and freelance producer/director at the University of Arkansas, received the Crystal Award of Excellence recently for a documentary he produced for Arkansas Educational Television Network.

Carpenter's documentary film that grabbed the award, "The Sound of Dreams," tells the story of the Hot Springs Music Festival, the festival Richard and Laura Rosenberg founded in 1996, and follows young apprentices and their mentors through two weeks of rehearsals and performances.

The Crystal Award of Excellence is an honor bestowed from the Communicator Awards; an international awards program founded by communications professionals to recognize excellence in the communication field.

Kabin Thomas, a music professor at the University of Arkansas, narrates "The Sound of Dreams." Students featured in the program include Mercedes Smith, a 16-year-old flutist-apprentice from Fayetteville, now attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York, N.Y. and Todd Cranson, a 26-year-old tuba apprentice who studied with Kabin and now teaches at a private school in New Orleans.

The documentary aired on AETN March 16, 2001 and several times since. It has been picked up by Public Broadcasting Service for national distribution this April, Carpenter said.

"I am very happy for all of the musicians who took part in the program, especially Kabin Thomas, who narrated the documentary, and Laura and Richard Rosenberg, whose dreams made the Hot Springs Music Festival possible," Carpenter said.

The Communicator Awards gives winners and their clients the recognition that the work they are producing is outstanding and highly regarded by their peers. The Communicator Awards provides an equal chance of winning to all entrants, regardless of size and budget. Since there are no lengthy essays to accompany the entry, all work is judged solely on its own quality, creativity and resourcefulness.

The Crystal Award of Excellence is given to those entries whose ability to communicate puts them among the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and excellence

Each year at the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Rosenbergs bring some of the world's best classical musicians together. These musicians play with the most promising young performers for a mentor experience that culminates in an extraordinary series of concerts held in art galleries, hotels and churches in Hot Springs.

"The Sound of Dreams" was underwritten in part by the Morris Foundation, Bodenhamer Foundation and the Horace C. Cabe Foundation. It is closed-captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

A photo of Dale Carpenter should be available for download at http://pigtrail.uark.edu/news.

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