Huskers win six awards in BEA Festival of Media Arts

Students in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications won two first-place honors, a third-place honor and three awards of excellence in the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts.

Students in the Nebraska Broadcasting Society, a registered student organization within the college, won first place in the narrative podcast or radio drama/play category of the student scriptwriting competition and tied for first place in the comedy or drama category of the student audio competition for “Paranormal Inactivity — Log 3: The Case of the Entrapped Alien.” 

The following students — listed alphabetically by hometown, with their year in school and major(s) — were part of the project. 

Nebraska

• Norfolk: Grace Koch, senior, advertising and public relations, and broadcasting
• North Platte: Jakob Fisher, senior, broadcasting
• Shelton: Hayden Hauge, senior, broadcasting, journalism, English and film studies

Elsewhere

• Olathe, Kansas: Katherine Mulloy, senior, emerging media arts and film studies

Chloe Fitzgibbon, a senior journalism, global studies and Spanish major from Lincoln, won third place in the multimedia storytelling category of the student interactive multimedia competition for “Nebraska Debates Sentencing Reform Amid Overcrowding.”

Broadcasting and sports media and communication majors Trey Marler, a senior from Jonesborough, Tennessee, and Abby McFarland, a junior from Fort Collins, Colorado, received an award of excellence in the video story/feature (short) category of the student sports competition for “2025 Nebraska Women's Hockey Preview.” 

Broadcasting and sports media and communication majors Daniel Berg Jr., a junior from Chicago, and Harmon Johnsen, a senior from Sutherland, Nebraska, won an award of excellence in the audio/video event: play-by-play talent category of the student sports competition for “NCAA Men's Basketball: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma at the Sanford Pentagon.” 

Johnsen also won an award of excellence in the television short feature reporting category of the student news competition for “Local Public Media in Jeopardy.”

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. This year, BEA received 2,250 entries from 300-plus colleges and universities. Learn more.