Students win grand prize at broadcasting convention

Oct. 28, 2016 | Communication |

Three Harding University broadcast journalism and electronic media production students took grand prize honors at the South Central Broadcasting Society convention in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 14. Ten other students were finalists in various categories at the event.

Grand prize winners included Grace Nickols for radio DJ talent, Matthew Rice for music video, and Jacob McCall for video short feature. Other student finalists were Amanda Durey, Andrew Cicco, Daniel Shaffer, Amanda Hall, Kelly Christopher, Josh Robinson, Chad Kraft, Jacob Davis, Shamra Selm and Ethan Sneed in categories such as radio or television spot production.

The students’ entries were ranked against those of nearly 30 other South Central universities, including the University of Oklahoma, Texas State University and Baylor University. Assistant Professor Ginger Blackstone said the competition with other universities demonstrates the quality of the program through the students’ work.

“Our students work really hard and it’s great to see them receive some well-deserved recognition,” Blackstone said. “I think sometimes in the day-to-day challenges of classes and coursework, we forget how rare Harding’s program is — the fact that we have a live weekday news operation produced entirely by students, a cable station, a streaming signal, and an FM station with significant reach. Not a lot of universities have these opportunities for their students, including a surprising number of state schools. It was great to see how our student projects compared to those from other programs, and we have a lot to be proud of.”