Kalyn Davis, the choir director at Wadsworth High School, recently won a Clapper Award for Best School Performance on November 12, 2024.
Davis has been the choir director for over 11 years. Throughout her extensive time teaching at WHS, she has won Clapper Awards for her hard work, such as going gold and platinum for Most Views. This year is no different. The Best School Performance award was awarded to Davis and her choir students for their shows.
“We’ve won numerous years,” Davis said. “We’ve had a few years where we’ve been runner-up. This is the second actual clapper that we’ve won.”
Clapper Awards are given out each year to select members of the Wadsworth Community. Johanna Perrino is the coordinator of the Clapper Awards event, and has been since 1992. The ceremony consists of over 20 categories and special awards. Three categories are designed for school-related productions and videos. These include “Best School Event,” “Best Look Into Our Schools” and “Best School Performance.”
A lot of work goes into preparing for the event. There is also an extensive process that must be followed if someone wants to submit their work to WCTV for a chance to win a Clapper Award, which is what Davis had to do.
“I start prepping for this event at the beginning of August each year, compiling all of the eligible shows and contacting producers to see which of their episodes they feel is their best work,” Perrino said. “That episode is the one that will be on the ballot and judged. Anyone can nominate a show they have created or just one they enjoy watching. To be eligible, it had to have aired on WCTV for the first time between September 1 of the previous year through August 31 of the current year. Any show that has been submitted during that time period is eligible and may be nominated. Nominations are taken through mid-September, and those nominations are then compiled into appropriate categories on the official Clapper Awards Ballot.”
After all the categories are prepared, and shows have been nominated, Perrino begins to work on the voting process for the awards.
“Online voting takes place for two weeks in the beginning of October, and this year we received 3748 completed ballots,” Perrino said. “All the nominees on the ballot are also judged by a panel of media professionals on quality, content, and overall reaction to the show. These judges are not in Wadsworth and have no connection to any of the producers. The online ballot scores and the judges’ scores are then combined to determine these winners.”
The ceremony was formal and included a catered dinner and dessert. Guests were encouraged to dress up.
“Guests are welcomed by our staff and invited into the venue to enjoy a nice dinner,” Perrino said. “This year’s event was held at Mosaic: Wadsworth, the dinner catered by Blue Heron Brew Pub. The theme was Hollywood Glam, and guests were invited to don their finest attire, which they did! The awards presentation is hosted by me, Johanna Perrino, and includes showcasing video clips of the winners. Each category features a runner up and an honorable mention award winner, and the first place in each category receives the beautiful clapper award.”
After dinner, awards were announced. Davis and Jack Mallory, a junior at WHS, went to accept the award together. Mallory accepted it on behalf of the media class, and Davis accepted it on behalf of the choir.
“Her nomination received a good number of online votes, and a great score on production quality, which I’m sure she’d attribute to the WHS Media Production class and Mr. Paul Taylor, who shared this award with her for their amazing video production skills,” Perrino said.
After receiving her second Clapper, Davis expressed her thanks for her students and nomination.
“It’s quite an honor, and it’s neat to see that our students worked really hard,” Davis said. “We are proud of the choir department and what we have become. Their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.”
Davis will continue to work with her choir students, saying that she would love to win another award next year. Perrino stated she will continue to coordinate the award ceremony and work with WHS to give out more awards in the future.
“WCTV is so happy to have such a great partnership with the Wadsworth City Schools, and it’s our pleasure to showcase all the talented students and staff we have in our system,” Perrino said.