OU Students Sweep Broadcast Education Awards

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NORMAN, OKLA. – University of Oklahoma students and faculty represented the university well in the recent Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts. Broadcasting students in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication and the College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences together had 34 winning entries, matching the record-breaking results of 2024.

The top honor went to “A Film About Toby,” produced by students in the fall 2024 Creative Media Production capstone course, including Lucas Booth, Autumn Hudgins, Liam Kharb, Lilly Stover, Scotty Strout, Kylie Taylor, Kami Thompson, and JJ Willis. This Best of Festival Award will be honored at the 23^rd Annual BEA Best of Festival Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas in early April. During the ceremony, recipients will be recognized with a specialized screening of their winning project and a cash award of $1,000 from the Diana King Memorial Endowment.

“Winning a BEA Best of Festival award—or any BEA competition award—is validation that the students’ creative vision, technical execution, and storytelling abilities have reached professional standards while they are still developing their craft,” said Ralph Beliveau, Ph.D., professor and creative media production and professional writing area head. “It is a celebration of their creative voice being recognized at the highest level of academic media competition.”

Another category where OU students distinguished themselves was Weathercaster. The college swept the competition with first, second, and third place winners and took second place for a Weather Special.

“The collaboration between the School of Meteorology and the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications through OU Nightly provides students with incredible opportunities to gain experiences both in front of and behind the scenes,” said Shawn Riley, OU Nightly weather advisor and research data specialist. “Graduates have been able to start almost anywhere they want across the nation, with multiple being able to start in top 75 TV markets. Leadership of both the School of Meteorology and Gaylord College are fully committed to continuing and expanding these efforts into the future.”

Other awards to highlight include:

• OU Nightly, Gaylord College’s daily newscast, was ranked number two nationwide.
• Gaylord students took over a third of the awards in the Film and Video Promotional category, including 1st and 2nd places
• First place in the Narrative Film Script Writing
• Traci Williams, a professor of creative media production, received the BEA Innovation in Teaching Award.

The BEA Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student work. The festival seeks to enhance and extend creative activities, teaching, and professional standards in broadcasting and other forms of electronically mediated communication.

OU participants had more competition than in previous years, as the BEA received 2,285 entries, representing a 21% growth over 2024. They awarded a total of 445 student winners from 111 colleges and universities (an increase from 80 in 2024) and 57 faculty winners from 39 colleges and universities.

“For students in video production, this award signals collaborative problem-solving, storytelling sensibilities, and technical production skills into something extraordinary. For writers, it says their storytelling is headed in the right direction. The award affirms their current abilities and is a powerful indicator of their potential to transform the media landscape,” Beliveau said.

The BEA Festival is the foundation for the Broadcast Education Association college rankings, which are scheduled to be released in April. BEA is the premiere international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production, and career advancement for educators, students, and professionals. There are currently more than 2,500 individual and institutional members worldwide.