WGLS picks up awards at BEA Festival

Ed Small 3/13/08
Section: News

Rowan Radio, 89.7 WGLS-FM's Julia Giacoboni, Ashley Smith, Jeff O'Connor, Brian Kanady, and Assistant Station Manager Derek Jones won three awards from the International Broadcast Educational Association (BEA).

Giacoboni and Kanady won first prize in the Best Educational Category for their documentary "Fading Farms and Saving Grace: Preserving the Garden State," in which they went looking for the reasons and misconceptions behind New Jersey's ever popular nickname, "Garden State." They also interviewed farmers, state agriculture representatives, as well as people who have written about New Jersey to expand more on the topic.

Upon hearing that she won first place, Giacoboni said, "It's way exciting. I can't even explain it. I was freaking out when I heard about it."

Smith and O'Connor won third place in the Best Educational Category for their documentary "Depression: Sad but True," in which they talked about people who have the symptoms of the illness, those who live with it, and how to deal living with it.

"When you find out that you're nationally recognized for something, it's an amazing feeling," O'Connor said.

"I was completely surprised, actually. We spent nights till the middle of the night for weeks, working on things, and fixing things over and over again. I didn't really think it would go that far," Smith added.

Jones, Assistant Manager of WGLS, won first place in the faculty competition for Best Sports Category for his work on a Pro Football Preview Show he has done for the station.

The BEA is a festival held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada, that introduces the talents of faculty advisers and students in the area of broadcasting, sports, as well as other media arts. Students and faculty from across the nation join together to showcase their contributions in an array of presentations. This year's competition takes place April 16-19.

The festival is sponsored by the Charles & Lucille King Foundation that awards the winners of each category with AVID software and a $1,000 cash prize. For the student competition, entrants must be an undergraduate or graduate student, and must be enrolled in their respective programs at the time their entries were produced.