Students from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh took home 13 of the 57 student media awards presented by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association during the organization’s annual student media conference in Middleton, Wisc.. UW Oshkosh won the most awards of any of the 16 participating colleges and universities and tied with UW-Milwaukee for most television awards.
UW Oshkosh took first place honors in six categories:
- In the radio category for news series/documentary. Brian Urbanek took top honors for a segment he produced for WRST on the homeless in Chicago. It was produced for the Advanced Radio Production class.
- In the radio category for public affairs/talk program, first place went to an episode of the WRST program Suffragette City called “Rise of Women, Fall of Men.” This weekly program on gender issues was produced in a course that was cross-listed as Radio TV Film and Women’s Studies, and taught by UWO’s Director of Television Services Justine Stokes.
- UWO also was honored with a first place award for radio newscast. The WRST effort from March 30, 2012 featured audio from that day’s visit to campus by GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. It was anchored by WRST station manager Spencer Wagen and featured reporting from students Trevor Uitenbroek and Brian Davidson. The Davidson segment was produced for the Radio TV News course.
- First place honors in the radio sports story category were given to a WRST segment previewing the UWO/UW-Whitewater football game, produced by WRST program director Brandon Kinnard.
- In the television category for best Promo, PSA or Commercial, UWO took first place for a Titan TV promo advertising the UWO vs. UW-La Crosse football game, produced by Brian Urbanek and Mario Johnson.
- Titan TV was also honored with a first place award in the category for Non-Play-by-Play Sports Programming for the Sports Block during the Titan TV newscast of November 2, 2012 produced by Kinnard.
Second place honors were awarded in the following categories:
- for radio news series/documentary, Kinnard was honored for a personal essay on his experiences as a minor league baseball announcer the previous summer. It was also produced for the Advanced Radio Production course.
- for radio category for public affairs/talk program, second place went to WRST’s Election Night Special, hosted by Wagen and Kinnard. Co-news directors Kristin Summers and Patrick Wucherer produced the three-hour live broadcast.
- for radio sports play-by-play, Kinnard and students Alex Crowe and Tyler Lance were honored for their broadcast of the UWO vs. UW-Whitewater football contest.
- for television public affairs, the Titan TV program Titan Tonight was honored for an episode demonstrating sign language for the hearing impaired. It was produced as part of the Studio Production course.
- for television sports play-by-play, the award went to Titan TV’s broadcast of a UWO game against Bethel College.
Third place awards were given in the following categories:
- for TV promo/PSA/commercial, Urbanek won for the opening segment for the Titan TV News Homecoming Special.
- for TV sports play-by-play, Titan TV was honored for a football telecast of a UWO game against the College of St. Scholastica.
A total of 38 UW Oshkosh students were involved in these award-winning entries, and UWO has won 68 WBA awards since the student media competition was begun in 2004.
Also, UW-Oshkosh RTF senior Brandon Kinnard was one of four recipients of Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation scholarships at the conference, winning the $1,000 award from Results Broadcasting.
Thirty UW Oshkosh students attended the annual conference in Middleton on March 2, the largest contingent from any college or university. Also in attendance were Justine Stokes and Randall Davidson of the Radio TV Film faculty, who each conducted panels at the event.
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