HAMMOND - Southeastern Louisiana University students at the Southeastern Channel won five first place 2014 Mark of Excellence Awards at the annual Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 conference in Lake Charles recently.

"McCrea 1971: Louisiana's Forgotten Rock Festival," produced by former students and now Southeastern graduates Nick Brilleaux of Hammond and Scott Caro of Mandeville, won first place in the "Best Documentary/Public Affairs" category at the 2014 College Broadcasters' National Student Production Awards convention in Seattle.

HAMMOND – A Southeastern Louisiana University student-produced documentary has won a pair of international television and film awards.

"McCrea 1971: Louisiana's Forgotten Rock Festival," produced by former students and now graduates Nick Brilleaux of Hammond and Scott Caro of Mandeville, won both a Telly Award and a Gold Remi Award at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival recently.

A full house was on hand at the Fox Theater last Thursday to enjoy a double feature of documentaries -- one on the role the state played in our nation’s greatest victory and the other on what is generally considered a dismal failure.

It was called a “Celebration of Life,” but it is remembered by most for its mud, mosquitoes, violence and death.

The music festival between a levee and the Atchafalaya River in the Pointe Coupee community of McCrea was supposed to be an 8-day “Louisiana Woodstock” or the “Woodstock of the South.” It was supposed to have 70-plus national and international acts. Instead, only 10 acts showed up, four people died, over 100 people were arrested for illegal drugs and the festival shut down after only three days in June 1971.

HAMMOND – Two student-produced television programs for the Southeastern Channel, Southeastern Louisiana University's educational access station, have been recognized with Emmy Awards by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Suncoast Region.

In 1971, Louisiana had its own Woodstock... almost. In the film "McCrea 1971: Louisiana's Forgotten Rock Festival," documentary filmmakers take a look back at the failed Celebration of Life Festival, which took place in the small town of McCrea, in upper Pointe Coupee Parish.

HAMMOND -- The untold story of Louisiana's disastrous attempt at its own Woodstock rock festival will be brought to life on the Southeastern Channel, Southeastern Louisiana University's educational access station.

Though the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival of 1969 is one of the most famous music festivals in history, the Celebration of Life Festival held right here in Louisiana in June of 1971 was inspired by Woodstock but somehow forgotten.

A quick primer of well-known music festivals from the late 1960′s/early 1970′s might looks something like this –Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Altamont, Summer Jam and the Atlanta International Pop Festival. Much like today’s saturated festival landscape though, there were dozens of fests that didn’t quite have the cultural impact – for better or worse – as the ones mentioned.