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Productions from WRST-FM at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh were recently honored at the Midwest Journalism Conference in Bloomington, Minnesota.  

WRST received eight of the 23 awards presented to student radio productions by the six-state Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association.  These awards are named for and honor Eric Sevareid, the legendary CBS News reporter and commentator.

WRST swept two of the student categories. In the category for best use of audio, WRST student news director Mariah Tralongo took first place for her segment profiling a local blacksmith. An Award of Merit in this category went to Wayne Netzler for a piece he did on the pet peeves of employees at convenience stores. Both segments were produced for the Advanced Radio Production course at UWO.

Tralongo also swept the category for talk/public affairs for broadcast interviews she conducted for Week In Review, WRST’s weekly radio newsmagazine. First place in this category was awarded for an interview she did with UWO student Jordan Kaminski relating his experiences appearing on the TV program Master Chef. An Award of Merit was given for an interview on local homelessness done with UWO alumna Samantha Zinth, executive director of the Day By Day Warming Shelter in Oshkosh. Another Award of Merit went to an interview with UWO Title IX Coordinator Ameerah McBride, talking about sexual assault and harassment.

WRST also took two Awards of Merit in the category for Sports Reporting. One was for an interview student Greg Peterson did with NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the other was a for news feature on the recent controversy surrounding fantasy football by student Jesse Davidson.  

An Award of Merit in the category of Sports Play-by-Play went to student Tony Bettack for the broadcast of a basketball tournament matchup between UWO and UW-Whitewater.

The same conference hosted the presentation of the regional “Mark of Excellence” awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.  The aforementioned blacksmith segment by Mariah Tralongo took first place in the Radio Feature category.  By virtue of its first place showing, it is automatically entered in SPJ’s national competition, with awards to be given at their conference this September in New Orleans.

Students working at WRST have won 23 statewide, regional and national awards so far this academic year.

WRST can be heard in the Oshkosh area at 90.3 on the FM dial and worldwide at wrst.org.

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contribute calendar items, campus announcements and other good news to UW Oshkosh Today.