NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – The University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, which was recently rated No. 1 program by the Broadcast Educators Association, continues its path of excellence after earning six total awards and more than a third of all nominations from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences 2025 Heartland Emmys Student Production Awards.
Gaylord College students, faculty and alumni comprised 20 of the total 57 nominations in this student competition, which honors excellence in categories including News, Sports, Narrative, Promotional and Documentary production. This is a regional competition of the well-known Emmy Awards that recognize and celebrate excellence in television. Half of the awards won during the 2025 ceremony were garnered by Gaylord Hall Productions students, the college's contract production unit.
“It's incredible to see how Gaylord students’ work is able to compete with some of the best schools in the country,” said Scott Hodgson, Gaylord Family Research Professor. “Many of our awards were for work for actual clients. Our students are able to recognize that what they do can impact others and really invest in that storytelling.”
“A Film About Toby,” which earned the award for Best Long-Form Fiction, was produced by students in the fall 2024 Creative Media Production capstone course and recently also took home top honors at the Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts.
“We’re so proud of our multi-talented students,” said Andrea Miller, dean of Gaylord College. “They are not only learning industry and professional skills at Gaylord, but they are executing them at an award-winning level. Emmys are a big deal, and we are so proud of their hard work."
The Heartland Emmy Awards are a regional branch of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. NATAS was founded in 1947 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to recognizing outstanding achievement in broadcasting. The Heartland Chapter includes the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
2025 Heartland Emmy Winners
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
Mulugeta Gebregziabher, Ph.D., a nationally and internationally recognized public health leader, researcher and educator, has been named a professor and the endowed chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Oklahoma Hudson College of Public Health.
Engineering Days at the University of Oklahoma give high school students direct exposure to engineering through hands-on, discipline-based experiences on campus. The program brings rising juniors and seniors to the Norman campus for one-day sessions led by OU faculty and supported by current engineering students.
The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $10.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to create the Oklahoma Center for Biomedical Research Excellence in Sensory Biology. The center will serve as a hub for research into how cells sense and respond to their environment and the diseases that can occur when that process malfunctions.
