University of Whitewater TV and student-run WSUW-FM are proud to announce that together they were honored with 17 total student awards at the 2024 Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Annual Student Forum, held Saturday, February 24 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay

Jim Mead, general manager of UWW-TV, said of the event, “It was a proud event not only for the many students who won, but for our Communication Department faculty as well.”

Here is a full list of the winners:

Newscast (TV)

1st Place – Whitewater Wind-down – “Episode 4, Week of 10/30/2023” (Erin Greshay, Kaz Walke, Ramsey Richards and Jessica Conway)

General News Story (TV)

1st Place – "Candlelight Vigil Baby" (Abbey Hamachek and Corey Ferris)

2nd Place – "Peace for Palestine" (Drew Best)

Photojournalism (TV)

1st Place – "Candlelight Vigil Baby"(Abbey Hamachek and Corey Ferris)

News Writing (TV)

1st Place – "Peace for Palestine" (Drew Best)

2nd Place – "Career Fair" (Angie Carchesi and Brian Gale)

Feature Story (TV)

1st Place – "Sister Cindy" (Drew Best and Abbey Hamachek)

Sports Story (TV)

1st Place – Inside Warhawk Sports – “Men’s Basketball” (AJ Kober)

Sports Play-by-Play (TV)

1st Place – "Warhawk Football vs. Wheaton, Warhawks Take Control" (Nolan Kopydlowski, Drew Best, and Matt Ellis)

Web Site (TV)

2nd Place – UWW-TV Web Site (Angie Carchesi and Abbey Hamachek)

General News Story (Radio)

1st Place – "The Rising Star" (McClane Noffke)

News Writing (Radio)

1st Place – "The Average Actuary" (McClane Noffke)

Feature Story (Radio)

2nd Place – "The Average Actuary" (McClane Noffke)

Audio Storytelling-Sound (Radio)

1st Place – "Lily Weitner Storytelling" (Lily Weitner)

Special Programming (Radio)

2nd Place – "Inside Warhawk Bowling" (Sam Strash)

Special Programming (Radio)

3rd Place – Nobody Really Cares - Ep. 1 (McClane Noffke, Erin Greshay and Angie Carchesi)

Public Service Announcements/Commercials (Radio)

1st Place – "Halloween Promo" (Erin Greshay)

Elsewhere, UWW-TV reports that they had a successful production of the Chancellor Corey King Inauguration, which streamed live at uwwtv.org. The full-length presentation has been released on the UWW-TV web site.

UWW-TV also had a very successful winter live event broadcast season, which was capped by their live broadcast of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament, Rounds 1 and 2 on March 1 and 2, 2024.

Finally, UWW-TV also collaborated with UW-Whitewater Athletics to provide over 13 hours of live streaming coverage for the 2024 WIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships held February 23 & 24.

Noting the overlapping of many of these events, Mead would like to thank his “fabulous, hard-working student crew” for making all of the coverage possible.

The Wisconsin Broadcasters Association has recognized Sun Prairie’s 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio station with four broadcasting awards, including the heavily coveted Station of the Year trophy.

Entering in the Large Market Radio category specializing in a music format, this was the first year that 103.5 FM (WLSP-LP) won for Station of the Year.

“This was completely unexpected, but of course completely deserved,” joked Sun Prairie Media Center director Jeff Robbins. “I think that what we have to offer on 103.5 FM, with community-produced programming, high school sports coverage, and loads of news and information specifically tailored to Sun Prairie residents, is something really unique and special. We thank the WBA for acknowledging that with this award. And of course I want to thank all of our wonderful producers, our staff, our Media Center Commission, our Friends group, and our elected officials for all of their support. We couldn’t do what we do without everyone pitching in.”

Besides the Station of the Year award (which The Sun shared in a tie with WLUM-FM out of Milwaukee), Greg Bump won Best Radio Show for “Greg’s List,” Dan Presser won Best Newscast for “Sun Prairie News,” and Sara Milewski and Sandy Xiong won Best Significant Community Impact Programming for their “Multicultural Fair Radio Reboot.”

Also recognized were Mark Gonwa’s “Song Archaeology,” which took second place in “Best Radio Show,” Christine Bright’s “Parenting Game,” which took third place in “Best Specialty Programming,” and 103.5 FM’s coverage of last year’s WIAA Division 1 Championship Football Game between Sun Prairie and Franklin, which finished third in “Best Sports Coverage.” Calling that game were Mike Powers, Jamison Rabbitt, and Bill Baker.

SPMC director Jeff Robbins clarified one additional point about the WBA awards: “Our TV stations are not considered broadcast because cable is the main means of distributing them. So we don’t enter in the television side of the WBA awards. But our radio station is considered broadcast, so we are eligible in WBA’s radio categories.”

Want to be part of this award-winning team? The Sun Prairie Media Center is currently looking for radio and podcast producers to take advantage of its awesome studio facilities and excellent staff. Anyone interested should call 608-837-4193, email 103.5 FM Production Manager Colin Lessig at clessig@cityofsunprairie.com, or check out sunprairiemediacenter.com, where program ideas can be submitted directly to SPMC staff.

Episodes of 103.5 FM’s award-winning programs can be accessed for on-demand listening by downloading the Sun Prairie Media Center app, available for free from the App Store or Google Play.