faculty awards & grants
Distinguished Education Service Award
BEA’s Distinguished Education Service Award (DESA) recognizes an individual who has made a significant and lasting contribution to the American system of electronic media education by virtue of a singular achievement or continuing service for or on behalf of media education.
Application deadline: Jan. 15
Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship
BEA’s Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship Award recognizes significant contributions to research and scholarship involving broadcast and electronic media. Recipients are evidenced by related extensive publication in books and leading journals, for at least twenty years.
Application deadline: Jan. 15
BEA Book Awards
The awards recognize an outstanding book and textbook published in the field of broadcasting and mass communication. Members may self-nominate any first-edition scholarly work in one of two categories: monograph/edited collection, or a textbook relevant to broadcasting and mass communication.
Application deadline: Dec. 18
BEA Research Grants
BEA will award grants ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 to support research projects on topics that align with the overall mission of BEA. Grants must fund traditional academic research related to broadcasting, electronic media, or mass communication. Recipients will present their research at #BEAvegas.
Application deadline: Jan. 15
Diversity & Inclusion
BEA’s D&I committee awards both research and creative work addressing issues of diversity and inclusion in areas of race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, country of origin, political affiliation, veteran status, research field, socioeconomic status, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Application deadline: Dec. 1 and Dec. 15
Festival of Media Arts
The BEA Festival is the preeminent international media competition focused on student and faculty creative endeavors. BEA receives more than 1,700 submissions from over 300 member institutions in the following competitions: Audio, Documentary, Film & Video, Interactive Multimedia & Emerging Technologies, News, Scriptwriting and Sports.
Submission window: Nov. 15 – Dec. 18
Innovation in Teaching
The ITA highlights an individual’s ability to showcase innovation in their pedagogy. Successful awardees will stand out as a media educator with their teaching style. Their assignments will demonstrate that their courses are not just lecture based. The innovative educator brings the joy of learning into the classroom.
Application deadline: Jan. 15
Leibner Cooper Grant
The Leibner Cooper Grant for Creative Productions on the History of Media awards $2,500 to a faculty member who is producing a documentary, video or audio story or series, multimedia project or sports production focused on historical issues, figures and/or events related to media. The project can be either a work in progress or a concept.
Application deadline: Dec. 18
LABF Broadcast Historian Awards
The Library of American Broadcasting Foundation (LABF) annually sponsors the Broadcast Historian Awards. With the support of LABF, BEA provides two $2,500 awards, the Broadcast Historian Book Award and the Broadcast Historian Creative Award.
Application deadline: Dec. 18
New Faculty Research Grant
BEA’s New Faculty Research Grant (NFRG) seeks to promote scholarship through achievement by untenured broadcast and electronic media faculty. Every year a cash grant of $1,000 is awarded to a new faculty member to help fund research projects.
Application deadline: Jan. 15
Scholarly Research & Paper Competitions
Each year BEA invites scholarly papers – and research-in-progress, from academics and students for presentation at BEA’s annual convention in Las Vegas and at BEA’s fall On-Location conference. All research is peer-reviewed.
Submission deadline: Dec. 1 & Dec. 15
graduate student awards & scholarships
Kenneth Harwood Dissertation Award
The Kenneth Harwood Outstanding Dissertation Award is an academic prize awarded each year for the best doctoral dissertation in field of broadcasting and electronic media. The award was established by Kenneth Harwood, professor at the University of Houston and a former president of the BEA.
Application deadline: Jan. 15
LABF Graduate Student Scholarship
In an effort to preserve scholarship in broadcast history, and with major support from the Library of American Broadcasting (LABF), LABF graduate student scholarship awards $3,000 to a student each year. The scholarship supports the student’s continuing studies and dissertation in broadcast history.
Application deadline: Oct. 13
Vincent T. Wasilewski Scholarship
The Vincent T. Wasilewski scholarships awards $4,000 to a graduate student with an exception academic record studying in any area of electronic media. The award is sponsored by Patrick Communications and honors past president of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), Vincent Wasilewski.
Application deadline: Oct. 13
Festival of Media Arts
The BEA Festival is the preeminent international media competition focused on student and faculty creative endeavors. BEA receives more than 1,700 submissions from over 300 member institutions in the following competitions: Audio, Documentary, Film & Video, Interactive Multimedia & Emerging Technologies, News, Scriptwriting and Sports.
Submission window: Nov. 15 – Dec. 18
Scholarly Research & Paper Competitions
Each year BEA invites scholarly papers – and research-in-progress, from academics and students for presentation at BEA’s annual convention in Las Vegas and at BEA’s fall On-Location conference. All research is peer-reviewed.
Submission window: Dec. 4 & Dec. 18