Rogers State University communications students, including two recent graduates, earned five top honors during this year’s Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters (OAB) Convention and Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association (OBEA) student awards ceremony.
Megan Carter, a 2017 graduate from Tulsa, won first place for her music video “Now and Then” for which she wrote the lyrics, shot the video, and produced the special effects/graphics as part of her 2017 senior capstone project. Her work beat out the second and third place finishers from Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma respectively. Carter also earned third place for her TV promotional spot on “Human Facebook Logo #Zuck2RSU” that was part of a student initiative to attract Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to northeast Oklahoma.
Matthew Rahn, a 2017 graduate from Claremore, won third place honors for his TV documentary on “Tapping Tulsa: Rise of the Microbrewery.” Marcus Young, a communications arts senior from Tulsa, earned third place in TV long-form narrative for his mockumentary “Beards” and Cade Thomas, a communications/radio-television junior from Broken Arrow, earned third place for his radio public service announcement on “100 years of cookie sales” about the Girl Scout cookie sales program.
In addition to the luncheon, many RSU Communications seniors attended the OAB’s Career Fair that morning where they had a chance to talk to commercial radio and TV station management on internship and future job opportunities. A number of students also attended the OAB’s afternoon seminar on “Fake News” presented by Al Tompkins from the Poynter Institute in Florida.
The honors were awarded during an April 19 student awards luncheon in Tulsa. Students from RSU, OU, Oklahoma State University, Cameron University, Langston University, Oklahoma Christian University, Oklahoma Baptist University, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City Community College, University of Central Oklahoma and Southeastern Oklahoma State University competed in this year’s awards competition that honored students competing in 25 different categories, including 17 in television, eight in radio one in scriptwriting. RSU students have consistently earned top awards during the statewide communication awards.
RSU offers a bachelor’s degree in communications with options in communication arts, corporate communications and radio-television, along with minors available in each of the specialty areas. For more information about the RSU Department of Communications, visit www.rsu.edu/communications or call 918-343-6825.