Photo courtesy of Keegan Nickoson

By Steve Sears

Livingston High School grad and current Indiana University student, Evan Kamikow, was awarded one of just 14 journalist opportunities to cover the 21st Maccabi Games in Israel from July 12 – 26, 2022. Kamikow, who gained his spot after competing against over 50 students nationwide, will join the inaugural Maccabi USA media team.

Evan learned of the contest from his mom. “My mom got an email from a friend that said, ‘I know your son is doing broadcasting in Indiana. Is your son interested in doing this?  It could be a really cool opportunity.” “I was interested in it. Immediately it caught my eye. I mean, a trip to Israel to cover the games – I mean, how could I not try to apply for it?!” In December, he submitted his application which included his demo reel and resume, and was contacted 10 days later for an 8 a.m. Tuesday morning interview. Two weeks after that, he got the email that he was selected.

Kamikow, majoring in Sports Media with a concentration in broadcast journalism and sports reporting, is elated at his upcoming opportunity. And there is a unique parallel for the college senior. He is studying his future career at a university that is known for sports achievements and great tradition, and he was raised in a town and came from a high school where there was a storied sports history as well, and its high school the home of a fine television studio and complementing realm of study. 

Kamikow, who runs the television station and its 26 reporters at Indiana University, got interested in TV broadcasting early on in his freshman year at Livingston High School. While there, he studied Visual Arts and TV Production under Jason Daily and Steve Milano. “I had TV-1 when I was 15-years-old with Steve Milano. I still text him, and I just texted him yesterday. I didn’t know about the studios. I didn’t know about anything at the time. So going into it, I was not nervous, but I was excited, but didn’t know what I would get out of it. I just really originally fell in love with the directing side, because Mr. Milano was a very technical guy. He knows a lot about directing and knows a lot about all of the TV background.” When studying TV-1 and TV-2 under Milano, Kamikow was indeed heading into directing, but then he auditioned for the morning show, A.M. Wired, got the part, and had a suggestion. “Because nobody ever really covered Livingston sports through A.M. Wired a lot, and we had a five-minute show, I pitched an idea (to Daily) and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to jump on camera.’ I’d done some hosting of the A.M. Wired show, but I never did a minute monologue in front of the entire school. And when I did one, I said to myself, ‘This is what I want to do.’”

There were the times, however, that Kamikow, a member of the Livingston Lancer 2018 Greater Newark Tournament winning baseball team, would have to hop on camera right after being on the field. “It felt cool after performing in a game, and then turning around to go to the studio to report on it,” he recalls. “All my teammates loved it because I made sure to mention other players (ironically enough, I don’t think I ever mentioned myself). It was always cool to see the team’s reaction to my segment along with coaches’ reaction.”

From there, he started during his senior year to do play-by-play of Lancer sporting events and even started doing talk shows. 

Kamikow feels it’s his energy and being willing to go an extra step that secured him his Maccabi USA media spot. “I’m just myself, and I really try to embrace that and really try to bring myself out as best as I can. Whether that’s doing an interview on camera or even just talking to somebody, I think that it’s really important to just really be myself. I think that’s something that really stood out.” And maybe it was the fact that, for his 8 a.m. Zoom interview that day, he was dressed in a suit, alert, and prepared. “What really stood out is just my attention to detail and my willingness to be energetic about something. They asked me, ‘Why are you so energized this morning?’ I said, ‘Well, if I can’t be here and have a smile on my face about getting an interview to do something I love over in Israel for the summer, what can I be energized about?”