Broadcast students continued to represent the MSU J-School so impressively in the Michigan Association of Broadcasters awards announced Thursday, April 14 by winning 18 awards including the prestigious Station of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year. MSU also won the Best Newscast award.
In the College Television competition, MSU swept the Current Events Story category. Regan Holgate finished first for "It's a Rite of Passage." Sam Britten finished second for "As Long As That Line Keeps Moving, Everything is Good." Ian Gilmour finished third with "Praying For Healing."
Myesha Johnson finished first in the Hard News category for "No Work, No Food." Holgate finished second with "He's Been Gone Long Enough."
MSU also swept the News Feature category. Joe Freihofer took first for "Letters of Love," while Bryanna Idzior took second for "A Slice of Hope" and Holgate took honorable mention for "There's a Wholeness."
MSU finished first in the Newscast category. Julian Stainback, Miriam Bingham, Anastasia Pirrami and Molly Gundry were honored for the Dec. 3, 2021 Focal Point program. The team of Stainback, Gundry, Emily Towns and Ally Smith took third for the March 19, 2021 Focal Point program.
Spartans swept the Public Service Announcement category as well. Teanna Barnes, Caeser Roundtree and Sophia Miller finished first with "Take Care To Ride Share." Max Copeland and Jessie Cohen took second for "St. Patty's 'Round the Corner." Gundry, Alex Hill and Isabella Martin finished third for "Mask Up."
In the Sportscast category, the team of Gilmour, Holgate, Bingham and Noah Hintz finished second for the Dec. 7, 2021 "Spartan Sports Report."
MSU took first place in the Talk Show/Scripted Show category. The team of Stainback, Towns, Idzior and Taylor Gattoni won for "Focal Point News Special Edition: A New Hope."
Spartans took the top two awards in the Use of Multimedia category. The team of Sam Britten, Gundry and Stainback won for "Multimedia Entry - Vaccine." Gattoni, Gundry and Stainback took second place for "Multimedia Entry - Restaurants Reopening."
J-School Professor Bob Gould summed up the impact of these awards. "We all know what a difficult couple of years it has been for both students and faculty, so I'm extremely proud of what our students have been able to accomplish under the most trying times. It shows that hard work and determination pay off. To win our 4th consecutive MAB Station of the Year is no easy feat and it's thrilling to know our program is considered the best in the State."
Watch Focal Point students learn of their Station of the Year award here.