On Feb. 26th, the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) announced that eight Rowan University students and one faculty member have been recognized for their media projects. Across all five projects, the categories in which they were awarded were “Radio Newscast”, “Specialty Program & Podcasts”, “Promotional”, and “Narrative”. 

Allison Bruce, more commonly known as Ally amongst her peers, was named the 2nd place winner in the Radio Newscast category. She was commended in this category for the project “The Rowan Report”, which is a 30-minute weekly news magazine. The Rowan Report covers all kinds of news, from local to the international scale. 

This project works within the Rowan Radio, WGLS-FM station, and station members. The station was also named last year as “College Radio Station of the Year” for the second year in a row. At Rowan Radio, Bruce has been the director of the news department for the past three years. 

“I want to pursue voice acting and having the opportunity to edit the Rowan Report every week has allowed me to better use and understand Adobe Audition and other editing skills I will need. It has also helped me to hone my ability to speak efficiently and, especially on tough topics or using difficult names,” said Bruce.

In the Promotional category, Rowan graduates John Hunter, Khrystyyan Pasichnyk, and Michael Rambo were recognized with an Award of Excellence for their video project entitled “Enhancing The Farmers Experience: Using AI and Drones to Predict Crop Yield”. Their project aimed to efficiently predict farmers’ crop yield, to help give an estimation of how much they would be able to supply. 

“We hoped to showcase the research of Dr. Hieu Nguyen and his group,” said Hunter. According to Hunter, through drone technology, farmers would scan and predict crop yield and locate any potential risks to their crops. 

“The three of us filmed the project b-roll. John conducted interviews with Dr. Nguyen as well as two of his students. Mike was the producer, overseeing shots and bringing the project together. Khrys was the primary editor of the video,” the group collectively stated. 

Over in the Specialty program and Podcasts category, Rowan winner Jonathan Hubbard was honored with an Award of Excellence for his project, “Storyboards”. Storyboards is a 10-minute podcast dedicated to tabletop games, in which Hubbard conducts a breakdown of how to play a certain game, commentary, and trivia. 

“Each episode is devoted to one specific game, to transport the listener into the world each game presents. I’d begin with a lengthy introduction to set the scene and establish both the world and the objective for the players. To do this, I utilized a lot of sound effects and theme music to help make the world feel lived-in,” shared Hubbard when discussing his project. 

According to Hubbard, his father introduced him to board, dice, and card games at an early age which led him to grow up with the hobby of playing. His main goal was to bring “varied and entertaining worlds to life,” as well as to introduce the hobby to people unfamiliar with gameplay. 

“I was the guy. I wrote, edited, and narrated each episode. I also recorded some sound effects, but I found most from a free sound library and all of the music I used. Thank you, Kevin MacLeod,” Hubbard said. 

Other winners in the Specialty Program and Podcast category include Brandon Bollwark with his project “The Green Pill”, as well as Danny Ryan and Connor Brown with “The Rowan Sports Review”. 

Faculty winners, Jonathan Mason and Tisha Robsinson-Daly won an Award of Excellence in the Narrative category for their project “HIGH”. 

“The BEA Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student work. The Festival provides a venue for the exhibition of winning submissions, including recognition of project authors, through showcase and awards sessions held during BEA’s annual convention in Las Vegas. The Festival seeks to enhance and extend creative activities, teaching, and professional standards in broadcasting and other forms of electronically mediated communication,” said the BEA in a press release. 

With over 300 participating schools and about 1,900 entries, it is a huge accomplishment and achievement for these Rowan University students and faculty to get recognized for their hard work and dedication to their craft. Congratulations to all the winners.

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