Alumnus Anthony Peckham has been named the recipient of the Writers Guild of America West’s 2010 Paul Selvin Award, for his screenplay of the film Invictus. The award recognizes written work that embodies the spirit of constitutional rights and civil liberties.

No matter if it’s a piano, a Japanese koto, a choir of 100, fetal heart sensors or even cockroaches, Miya Masaoka can transform it into beautiful, innovative music. She has been featured everywhere from Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet to the Venice Biennial.

Check out the February 2010 edition of the Creative Arts E-Lert, the official e-mail newsletter of the SF State College of Creative Arts. This issue highlights upcoming events including the Morrison Artists Series concert with the Afiara String Quartet and the Design Revolution Road Show. The newsletter also includes news on the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, an award-winning student film, Assistant Professor of Cinema Weimin Zhang and composer/alumna Miya Masaoka.

Envelope, please. Two Cinema alumni are nominated for three Academy Awards. Nominees were announced Feb. 2. This is the 11th consecutive year that SF State alumni have garnered Academy Award nominations.

Weimin Zhang could have won a gold medal herself. As a unit director for The Everlasting Flame: Beijing 2008—the official Summer Olympics documentary—the assistant professor raced from a protest-filled torch relay in San Francisco to training camps in San Diego, Texas and Argentina and, finally, to the games. Recently, The Everlasting Flame and three other of her film projects garnered eight honors at film festivals in four countries.