Students from Marshall University’s public radio station, WMUL-FM, received 12 awards in the International AVA Digital Awards 2018 Competition. This year is WMUL-FM’s sixth time competing in the International AVA Digital Awards. Students received three Platinum Awards, six Gold awards and three Honorable Mention awards.

“Better than Excalibur,” an in-house promotional announcement, was written and produced by Brian Leonard, recent graduate, and voiced by Seth Payne, senior radio and television production management major and social media coordinator for WMUL-FM. In the promotional, King Arthur is looking for a weapon that is mightier than Excalibur.

“That just so happens to be WMUL,” Payne said. “Brian did all the heavy lifting, and I was just the voice. So, I think that shows that Brian took a lot of effort into making that, and he definitely deserves the award.”

The station’s “Huntington the Opioid Center” in-house public service announcement received a Platinum Award and was written and produced by Adam Rogers, graduate student and executive director of WMUL-FM. Production assistants were Franklin Norton, junior public relations major and managing editor of The Parthenon; Lilly Dyer, junior photography major and photo editor for The Parthenon; and Sadie Helmick, senior public relations major and life editor for The Parthenon. The PSA lasts for 60 seconds and focuses on the issues Huntington is facing.

“It’s meant to draw attention to the issue instead of letting it get swept under the rug,” Rogers said. “The purpose is to show people how they can help instead of sitting back idly, people just sitting back and going ‘Well, that’s a shame.’”

WMUL-FM’s broadcast of Marshall football verses University of Pittsburgh was also awarded the Platinum Award. Rogers was the play-by-play announcer. The color commentator was James Collier, recent graduate. Luke Creasy, senior sports journalism major and sports director for WMUL-FM, was the statistician; Dylan Stone, senior sports broadcasting major and production director for WMUL-FM; and the engineer was Sage Shavers, recent graduate.

“WMUL does a great job at giving students experience at being able to achieve awards at the regional and national level,” Creasy said. “It’s really cool to be in contention for that.”

WMUL’s FM 88 Sports Twitter, @WMUL_Sports, received the Gold Award for its coverage of Marshall sports events. The Twitter account is overseen by all staff members of FM 88 sports.

The radio newscast “Feel the Bern” written and produced by Rebecca Turnbull, senior broadcast journalism and public relation double major, also received a Gold Award.

Radio Sports Broadcast “Vedvik Named Player of the Week,” written and produced by Creasy, received a Gold Award. Likewise, “McKenzie Akers Returns,” written and produced by Rogers, received one as well.

WMUL-FM’s play-by-play broadcast of the Marshall University versus Ohio State University college men’s basketball game received a Gold Award. The play-by-play announcer was Rogers, the color commentators were Creasy and Stone and the engineer was James Collier, recent graduate.

Also a recipient of a Gold Award is “Marshall’s W. Page School of Journalism and Mass Communications sports journalism program promotional announcements,” an advertising campaign written and produced by Charles G. Bailey, WMUL-FM’s faculty manager. The campaign was composted of four scripts focused on general information concerning the state of sports journalism, the existence of Marshall’s sports journalism program, what is available at Marshall for students majoring in sports journalism and what hands-on experiences students may have as a sports journalist at Marshall University.

The following received the Honorable Award: WML-FM’s Instagram, “West Virginia Makes Festival” written and produced by Turnbull, the 5:00 p.m. Edition of Newscenter 88 broadcast Nov. 14, 2016 on WMUL-FM.

Bailey said he is grateful for the honors.

“These AVA Awards are a tribute to the continual quality and commitment to the news and sports coverage, creative programming, station promotion, public service and having an online presence that our broadcast students exhibit in competition with professional practitioners,” Bailey said.

Ginny Blake can be contacted at [email protected].