Indiana’s historic, 92-county bicentennial torch relay has been condensed into a 37 minute documentary. “Everlasting Light: The Story of Indiana’s Bicentennial Torch Relay” was produced by the Department of Telecommunications at Ball State University. The Indiana Office of Tourism Development commissioned the project to preserve the event for future generations.
State Director of the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay Noelle Szydlyk says the video captures some of the special moments with torchbearers, county coordinators and the relay crew in each of the state’s 92 counties.
The 37 day journey was meant to inspire and unify Hoosiers by symbolically “passing the torch,” connecting generations to IGNITE our future. The relay was developed by IOTD as one of the major commemorative events of the 2016 Bicentennial celebration.
It traveled through 260 cities and towns across all 92 Indiana counties. The torch was carried a total of 3,226 miles by 2,242 torchbearers. The torch relay culminated at the Indiana Statehouse, where the Hoosier Homecoming celebration was held. An art sculpture titled Lux Aeterna located on Bicentennial Plaza now holds the everlasting light.
The student team of Ball State Telecommunications majors that produced the documentary was recently awarded the Summit Emerging Media Award for their work on the Torch Relay. The award is part of an international competition which received over 1,200 entries. Fewer than 6 percent of the entries were chosen for awards.
You can enjoy their work at IndianaTorchRelay.com.
You can purchase a DVD of the documentary here.
