The Broadcast Education Association competition draws entries from colleges and universities across the country, with hundreds of programs submitting work in audio, film and multimedia categories. Projects are judged by faculty and industry professionals, making it one of the most competitive stages for student media.
“It’s open to students all over the country from all different universities, with nearly 300 different universities competing,” Instructor II Charity Robinson said.
For TCU’s film, television and digital media program, this is more than a competition.
It’s a milestone.
And this year, students delivered one of the program’s strongest showings to date.
Awards are presented during the organization’s annual conference, held in conjunction with the National Association of Broadcasters convention. The event offers students opportunities to attend panels, explore new technology and connect with industry professionals.
“They get the opportunity to see some of the newest technology in the industry, and hear panel discussions from incredibly talented professionals,” Robinson said.
Amplifying Untold Stories
In Robinson’s podcasting courses, students build shows from the ground up. Starting with developing topics, writing scripts, recording, editing and distributing their work to platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. They also pitch their work for national curation.
For senior Krystal Guerra, that process began with uncertainty.
“I had a hard time choosing my topic,” Guerra said. “It was very last-minute.”
She ultimately chose to focus on immigration and deportation — an issue shaped by her upbringing in the Rio Grande Valley, where many families live with the realities of immigration policy.
“I want to be a voice for the voiceless and amplify marginalized voices because a lot of people want to speak out but can’t,” Guerra said. “They think, ‘How will this affect my mom? How will this affect my dad? How will this affect me?’ That’s why I chose this topic: to shed light on the voices that maybe can’t speak up for themselves.”
Her podcast, Deliver Us from Dehumanization, blends personal narrative with broader reporting on immigration. The project required her to revisit difficult moments with her family, including conversations they had not previously shared openly.
“There were so many times I cried,” she said. “Writing it, recording it … even now.”
Her first episode, Boogeyman’s Lullaby, became the centerpiece of her submission. The episode reflects on her childhood memories shaped by fear and uncertainty, while also highlighting resilience.
“It’s very dear to my heart,” she said. “It was a lot of talking with my parents, because it’s as much their story as it is mine. There are a lot of things in that episode that my parents never really were open about or never spoke about.”
Stepping Into the Spotlight
Before the BEA awards, Guerra’s podcast received national attention.
In fall 2025, she received an email from Apple informing her that her show had been selected to be showcased on the Apple Podcasts homepage under the category: “Best New Shows.”
“She lived on the Apple Podcast homepage for November, December and January for that project,” Robinson said.
“It was like a reward,” Guerra said. “All this hard work, all these sleepless nights, it was so rewarding. I never thought that that would be something that would happen to me.”
Weeks later, another email arrived — this time from the Broadcast Education Association.
“You know how Outlook does a little confetti thing, I saw ‘congratulations’ and immediately jumped up to celebrate,” she said. “Then I kept reading, and it said I couldn’t tell anyone.”
When the results were released, Guerra learned the full scope of her recognition.
She earned multiple honors, including first place in the Narrative Podcast category and Best of Festival in the Narrative Audio and Podcasts category.
“We’ve actually never had a student win that award, so we’re incredibly proud of her for that,” Robinson said. The department’s only previous win was for Worldwide: The Unchosen Church, a collaborative podcast by Robinson and Professor Tricia Jenkins.
Guerra’s achievements were part of a broader set of student successes recognized across multiple categories.
In the PSA or Promo category, senior Marisol Sela earned first place for Smokefree.gov, while Bella McCarthy, who graduated in December 2025, received second place for The Dirtier the Better. Guerra also placed third for her podcast, Deliver U.S. from Dehumanization, adding to her individual recognition at the festival.
In the documentary category, Trailblazers – created by Jonathan Stokx, Kate Schein, Aidan Heard, Michael Fazen, Dayne Love and Krystal Guerra, in partnership with Create + Collaborate, a local nonprofit that supports first-generation college students – earned the Documentary Award of Excellence. The project was produced as part of Robinson’s documentary coursework, which emphasizes service-based storytelling.
“Documentary is the toughest category, very difficult to place,” Robinson said. “So, the fact that they placed was incredible.”
Raising the Bar: From Coursework to Completion
In Geoffrey Craig’s sports radio course, BEA submissions were introduced this year as part of a final assignment from the adjunct faculty and co-manager of KTCU. Students had one week at the end of the semester to choose a category, then develop, record, and edit their projects, applying the skills they had built throughout the course.
“They consciously worked on it for just one week,” Craig said, “but they had been working toward it all semester.”
Craig selects only four or five of the strongest projects from a class of about 40 students to submit. That selectivity, he said, encourages students to take pride in their work and pay closer attention to detail, knowing it will be reviewed by professors and industry professionals nationwide.
“Having their work submitted makes them feel a sense of accomplishment,” he said. “If they win, it completely validates them and lets them know that they really are as creative and talented as we say they are.”
Craig said he was especially impressed with the creativity of this year’s submissions and believed several could have placed at the top of their categories. Marisol’s first-place win in the Public Service Announcement category was particularly meaningful, marking his first submission in that category and reinforcing the program’s ability to produce high-quality work.
Rather than treating BEA as a separate milestone, Craig emphasizes consistent excellence.
That philosophy is echoed across the program.
“The first thing I do is show students what the students before them have done,” Robinson said. “I tell them, ‘We have a very strong reputation of being an excellent program, and this is what it’s going to take to continue that excellence.’”
Students, she said, rise to that expectation.
“They want the challenge of creating something that is not a student project; it is a professional project,” Robinson said.
The results reflect that standard.
Students are not just completing assignments — they are producing work that competes and wins on a national stage.