OBU Students Take Top Honors at Oklahoma Broadcast Education Awards

May 24, 2022

A group of three journalism students and one alumna from OBU recently took home awards in the media competition at the Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association awards held in April. The students combined to win three first place awards and one second place award.

Students Victoria Coolidge and Sylvia Lambert won first place in the documentary-short category with “Dyslexia Minds.” Coolidge and Lambert are junior journalism and mass media majors.

In the entertainment/talk category, Coolidge took first place with “Abiding in the Light.” The project was a biblical education video in a talk-show format.

“Winning the OBEA awards gets me excited because I’m getting one step closer to my career in the film industry,” Coolidge said. “Every day I feel God’s calling intensify in my life to create films for Him, and I’m so excited to see where He will lead me!”

Student Chase Kirby and alumna Devin Miller won second place in the narrative-short category with a fiction drama titled, “A Hitman's H(a)unting.” Kirby is a junior, majoring in journalism and mass media, while Miller is a December 2021 journalism and mass media graduate.

“It was such a great experience to have my name called and get my award as well as attend the seminars with media professionals, learning what the media profession is all about,” Kirby said.

Coolidge and Lambert won first place in the video essay category with a fictional drama titled, “Left at the Alter.”

“The opportunity to create a concept like ‘Left at the Alter’ and see it come to life through our work filming and editing was beyond exciting,” Lambert said. “We took all the freedom we had to be creative and ran with it.”

Dr. Gary Rhodes, professor of media production, is proud of his students who placed in the competition as well as all who competed.

“The awards are a testament to the students,” he said. “Their ability to create great nonfiction and fiction projects is tremendous.”

The Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association members include the state’s largest public universities, regional universities, community colleges, and public colleges and universities. The OBEA members work closely with the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters to promote quality broadcast education and professional preparation. By combining the needs of the industry with the rigors of education, the OBEA is leading the way in preparing the next generation of broadcasting professionals.

Learn more about academic programs of study in OBU’s Division of Communication Arts.