DATE: May 11, 2009

CONTACT: Roy Scott, 864-650-8304
rlscott@clemson.edu

WRITER: Diane Palmer, 864-656-4741
spalmer@clemson.edu

Clemson’s Your Day radio program wins ACE international award

CLEMSON — Clemson University's "Your Day" radio program has won an international award from the Association for Communications Excellence (ACE).

The staff was honored with a Gold Award for the entry "House Hunting with the Bug Guys," in the News and Features category. The Gold Award is the highest honor given by the association.

On the second Tuesday of each month, host Charlotte Holt fields telephone calls to entomologists Cam Lay, assistant department head for Pesticide Regulation, and Eric Benson, Clemson extension urban entomologist. Listeners call in with a wide variety of questions involving insects, spiders, reptiles, rodents and other household pests. The entomologists quiz the caller to help them identify the creature in question. Then they discuss the life cycle of the pest, suggest how to exterminate it and offer advice on exclusion and other prevention practices.

"House Hunting with the Bug Guys" is a special pre-recorded edition of the program in which the entomologists illustrate much of what they've talked about over the years when they went on location to check out a house that's been on the market for some time. "Your Day" followed as the "Bug Guys" went house hunting in an Upstate South Carolina neighborhood.

Eric Rodgers, Your Day production manager, recorded, edited and produced the one-hour program, which aired in December of last year.

A public service program of Clemson University, "Your Day" airs statewide at noon Monday through Thursday on the South Carolina ETV Radio network. 

The award will be presented in Des Moines, Iowa, during the ACE conference on June 7. ACE develops the professional skills of its members to extend knowledge about agriculture, natural resources and life and human sciences to people worldwide. Members work in universities, government agencies and research organizations in both the public and private sector.

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