The BEA Student News Competition awards students for outstanding work as news anchors, reporters, weathercasters and bona fide student-produced newscasts. Students are invited to participate and entries will be reviewed by professionals in the field of television news. Entries will be accepted from November 15 – December 15 and winners will be showcased during an awards ceremony at the BEA Convention in Las Vegas in April.
The Student News competition accepts entries in the following categories:
SN1 – Radio Feature Reporting: This category is intended for radio news feature stories that run no more than seven minutes.
SN2 – Radio Hard News Reporting: This category is intended for radio hard news feature stories that run no more than seven minutes.
SN3 – Radio Newscast: This category is intended for radio newscasts and all entries should have commercials or other non-news elements edited out.
SN4 – Student TV News Short Feature: This category is intended for television feature news stories that are less than 3:00 minutes in length. SN5 – Student TV News Long Feature: This category is intended for television feature news stories that run between 3:01 minutes but no more than 5:00 minutes.SN6 – Television Hard News: This category is intended for television hard news stories that run no more than five minutes.
SN7 – Television News Anchor: This category should showcase TV News anchoring segments and all entries MUST be from student/university anchored newscasts, not from professional stations, even if the student is working or interning at that professional station. Anchor submissions must strictly feature anchoring and field anchoring. No reporting.
SN8 – Student Television News Reporter ** New Category ** This category should showcase TV News reporting. All entries MUST include three news packages and be from student/university media outlets, not from professional stations, even if the student is working or interning at that professional station. Time limit: 10 minutes. Entries will be judged by television hiring managers and recruiters.SN9 – Television Weathercaster: This category should showcase weather anchoring segments and all entries MUST be from student/university anchored newscasts, not from professional stations, even if the student is working or interning in that professional station.
SN10 – Television Newscast 3 Days per Week or Less: This category is intended for live to air/tape newscasts that air 3 or less days a week. Entries must have commercials/breaks cut out as well.
SN11 – Television Newscast 4 Days or more per Week: This category is for live to air/tape newscasts that air 4 or more days a week. Entries must have commercials/breaks cut out as well.
SN12 – Television News Magazine: This category is intended for any news magazine style program. Programs may include post-production components, but should be entered ‘as aired’ if needed and must have aired on TV or Internet at some point over the previous year. This category DOES NOT INCLUDE regular live to air/taped newscasts, as those already have separate categories. Multiple entries from the same media outlet are not permitted. Each organization should select its best entry to represent the school in this category. Schools with multiple magazine programs or series may enter once for each program title.
SN13 – Student Television News Special Event Coverage ** New Category ** This category is intended for television special event coverage including but not limited to election coverage or severe weather coverage. This entry can include live or taped segments. The content can be continuous or a compilation of excerpts aired within a 24-hour period. Please include a short paragraph that provides context for your entry. Time limit: 30 minutes.Submission Requirements:
- The entry must have aired on a broadcast station or Internet site as noted on the entry form.
- Individual reporting and talent (anchor & weathercaster) entries should run between 1:30 and 5:00 minutes. Newscast and News Magazine entries should run between 5 and 30 minutes.
- Shows or reports for which faculty or professionals played more than a supervisory role will not be accepted. Stories completed during internships are not eligible, unless completely shot, written, voiced, and edited by students.
- Graduate students in broadcast journalism are welcome to compete in the student news category.
- Each college or university is limited to one television entry and one radio entry in the newscast category. The entry should be a single newscast and NOT a montage of several newscasts.
- Individuals may enter up to three times but are limited to one entry per category. A student may only enter content in THREE categories max across all categories. This does not include ensemble entries in the newscast and news magazine categories
- Due to difficulty in re-editing to ensure blind review, Student News does not need to adhere to the blind review requirement in the Student Competition Rules.
Please read the Student Competition Rules to verify that your entry meets all eligibility requirements for submission.