BEA2026

SPORTS BROADCASTING SHOWCASE

This session will feature panelists from several universities that teach sports broadcasting. Some universities have full-fledged sports majors, while other colleges include sports activities as part of a general broadcast major. The panelists will highlight their programs, including how students, staff, and faculty are involved in the process. Student production excerpts will be shared with the audience. The programming may come from sports segments in radio or television newscasts, weekly shows, or specials. The program carriers vary from campus closed-circuit systems to community cable channels and public broadcasting stations. Issues to be discussed will include the balancing act of producing quality programming and providing students with a positive learning experience at the same time, the sometimes-challenging relationship between academics and the Athletic Department, and the ongoing budget battle.
Moderator: Kenneth A. Fischer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Panelists: Brett Kurland, Arizona State University
Miles Romney, Brigham Young University
Alan Eno, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 

You can't learn how to be a journalist or a media professional from a textbook or by simply sitting in a class. You learn by getting your hands dirty, doing the hard work and gaining field experience. This panel will be a look at tried and tested experiential workshops — some multi-day workshops — put on by different
universities around the world. These workshops and our panelists run the spectrum: A sports workshop incorporating multiple classes,
an immersive photo and multimedia storytelling workshop, global documentary workshops on social change and environmental issues. We want to include what works and what doesn't work, some step-by-step guides for creating a successful, hands-on workshop. Many of these workshops also provide portfolio pieces for students and/or have a community service component to them as well.

Moderator: Jen Smith, University of Kentucky
Panelists: Jen Smith, University of Kentucky
David Stephenson, School of Journalism and Media, University of Kentucky,
Robin Canfield, Actuality Abroad
Robb B. Montgomery, Visual Editors, NFP
Tynymgul Eshieva Eshieva, American University in Central Asia

With technology being at the forefront of how we teach, create, and tell stories, this panel will showcase a variety of schools' approaches to their recent control room updates. Whether you're in the early stages of gathering ideas, or making decisions on what equipment to buy, this panel may help you on the journey of planning your new facility upgrade for any budget. Control rooms for live sports, news and podcasting will be discussed.
Moderator: Joe Brackman, University of Cincinnati
Panelists: Aaron Atkins, Weber State University
Michael Moon, Otterbein University

Join us for this series of sessions showcasing the work of our Festival of Media Arts Student Sports winners.
Festival of Media Arts

Promotional Video/Tease/PSA Category
Best of Festival: Nate Locker & Amadou Diallo, Ball State University; Ball State Sports Link: My Black Is

1st Place: Symone Harms, Aiden Penner, Jesus Arriaza-Lopez & Paige Drew; Bethel University; Bethel University Track and Field Intro 2025-2026

Audio Story/Feature/News Category
1st Place: Seth Berquist, Indiana State University; WZIS Sports Update

Audio/Video Event: Play by play talent
1st Place: Jack Stager, Michigan State University; Jack Stager for Impact Radio

Video Live Game Production Category
1st Place: Jack Stager, Madison McCarter, Joseph DesVergnes-Christy & Jacob Maurer, Michigan State University; Michigan State Volleyball vs Nebraska

This panel explores how educators can train students to develop their on-air presence in sports media. From play-by-play and color commentary to sideline and feature reporting, panelists will share strategies for helping students balance confidence, style, professionalism and storytelling. The discussion will highlight classroom exercises and assignments that simulate live game calls, mock radio shows, and on-camera reporting while comparing them to industry expectations. Attendees will gain practical ideas for helping students discover and strengthen their unique sports voice across platforms.
Moderator: Anjelica Trinone, West Virginia University
Adam C. Earnheardt, Youngstown State University
Chuck Scatterday, West Virginia University
Steve Stilwell, Liberty University

At NAB, I’ll be showing how live sports and broadcast production actually works today- using a fully cloud-based/fly-pack REMI production control room.
Instead of everything happening in one truck or studio, I’ll walk through how video comes in from a live event, gets switched between cameras, turned into highlights, managed with AI tools, and then streamed out to viewers- all in real time.
You’ll see how teams can produce major events from anywhere in the world, using software instead of massive hardware setups. It’s faster, more flexible, and way more scalable than traditional broadcasting.
The big takeaway: the future of this industry is remote, software-driven, and collaborative! And this is exactly how top-tier events like Formula 1 and the Olympics are being produced today.

Please join us as we recognize all of the Faculty Festival winners from Film & Video, IMET and Sports competitions.  

After the awards are handed out, we will hear from our Best of Competition winners.
Confirmed Presenters

Interactive Multimedia
Emerging Media & Technology Category
Capturing New Perspective in Modern Media: Using Drone Videography to Showcase the Sam Houston State University Community; Antonio Bocanegra II, Sam Houston State University

Interactive Reality Category
Eyes of Freedom Immersive; Pat Clark, University of Colorado Boulder

Sports Competition
Long Form Sports Video Category
Authentic ACC: Syracuse Spring Football; Jordan Kligerman, Austin Beehner, Mike Lang & Richard Wiesmann, Syracuse University

Audio Competition
Long-Form Production Category
The Traveling Radio Show Goes to the CSU!; Jeff Jacoby, San Francisco State

Scriptwriting Competition
Narrative Feature Category
Hole-in-the-Wall; Matthew Evans, University of Georgia

As more institutions establish sports media degree programs, courses either emphasizing or featuring instruction about sports play-by-play are growing as well. This panel features educators with sports broadcast experience to suggest ideas for classroom instruction that can enhance practical experience behind the microphone.

Moderator: John McGuire, Oklahoma State University
Panelists: Dylan McLemore, Oklahoma State University
Kyle J. Miller, Northwest Missouri State University
Kenneth A. Fischer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

During the ceremony, recipients will be recognized with a specialized screening of their winning project and a cash award of $1,000 from the Diana King Memorial Endowment.

The 2026 Best of Festival winners were selected from a pool of over 2,250 entries, representing over 300 colleges and universities in the following competitions: audio, documentary, film & video, interactive multimedia, news, scriptwriting, sports and two-year colleges.

2026 Best of Festival Winners

Audio Competition - Faculty
The Traveling Radio Show Goes to the CSU!; Jeff Jacoby, San Francisco State University (Long-Form Production Category)

Audio Competition - Student 
Deliver U.S.; Krystal Guerra, Texas Christian University (Narrative Audio Category)

Documentary Competition - Faculty 
Chicken Ghetto; Sangsun Choi & Paul Lee, Kennesaw State University (Short-Form Category)

Documentary Competition - Student 
Hunter; Jack Hanning, Carter Moore, Nick Reed & Rylie West, University of Tennessee (Documentary Feature Category)

Film & Video Competition - Faculty
Kid Super Pilot; Christian Washington, Huntington University Arizona (Narrative Video Category)

Film & Video Competition - Student
Southern Apocrypha; Eli Murray, Ethan Hickey, Jordan Moore & Amy Csaki, Middle Tennessee State University (Narrative – Mini Narrative Category)
Komets Blackout Night Promo; Bryce Garrett, Huntington University (Promotional Category)

Interactive Multimedia Competition - Faculty
Eyes of Freedom Immersive; Pat Clark, University of Colorado Boulder (Interactive Reality Category)

Interactive Multimedia Competition – Student
As Tough As Ice; Murphy McFarlane, Syracuse University (Multimedia Storytelling Category)

News Competition - Faculty
From Denver to Mecca: A CNN producer’s personal pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest site; Kareem El Damanhoury, Muhammad Darwish, Angelica Pursley & Matog Saleh, University of Denver (Television Feature News Reporting Category)

News Competition - Student
40 Feet In the Air; Boone Kilpatrick, Syracuse University (Radio Reporting Category)

The New Florida Follies; Alex Land, University of Florida (Television Reporting Category)

Centre County Report: April 4, 2025; Allie Wenskoski, Sarah Schultz, Francie Ebert, Hannah Neurohr, Owen Gelber &
Denys Khrulov, Penn State University (Television Newscast Category)

Scriptwriting Competition - Faculty
All These Lonesome Graveyards; Nathan Patton, Missouri State University (Original Television Series Pilot Category)  
Scriptwriting Competition - Student Bandit; Cooper Johnson, Missouri State University (Original Television Series Pilot Category)

Sports Competition - Faculty
Authentic ACC: Syracuse Spring Football; Jordan Kligerman, Austin Beehner, Mike Lang & Richard Wiesmann, Syracuse University (Long Form Sports Video Category)

Sports Competition - Student
Ball State Sports Link: My Black Is; Nate Locker & Amadou Diallo, Ball State University (Promotional Video/Tease/PSA Category)

Student Two-Year Colleges Competition
25 Years of Harper Radio; Zoe Meshenberg, Harper College (Non-Narrative Audio Category)

Graduate Student Competition
Piloting the Past into the Future; Rio Harper, Dian Ling, Nicole Cummings & Nathan Olszewski, Syracuse University (Documentary)