A segment featuring a local restaurant’s spicy taco-eating challenge helped three recent Cal State San Bernardino graduates earn second place in the television news category during the 29th California State University (CSU) Media Arts Festival.
 
The festival, which was held Nov. 13 at Digital Hollywood at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, is an annual event that gives CSU students a chance to screen their work for peers and industry professionals. The event included activities, a finalist screening and awards ceremony.

The winners, who worked on the segment called Death Taco Challenge, are: Cesar Chanon, communication studies with a concentration in media studies; Julia Anne Davis, communication studies with a concentration in public relations; and Amanda Romero, communication studies with a concentration in media studies.
 
The segment was created as part of Local Matters, a community affairs, student-produced television program made in the practicum course COMM 444A.
 
The segment features the restaurant Genkiyaki in Riverside, Calif., and its “Death Taco Challenge,” which requires participants to eat three extremely spicy tacos. There is no time to beat – just finishing the fiery tacos is required.
 
“I wasn’t expecting that a video I did for a class project would make it this far into a competition, especially one that involves all the CSUs,” said Chanon, who produced and edited the segment. “I put a lot of time and effort into producing this short story and I’m just really happy people enjoy it.”
 
A total of 31 finalists were selected for the CSU Media Arts Festival, which represent 10 of the 23 CSUs. The CSU received entries from 16 campuses.
 
Visit the CSU Media Arts Festival website to learn more about the event.