Eight students from Pittsburg State have earned awards at the Kansas Association of Broadcasters’ Broadcast Excellence Awards. These awards serve to recognize students at the high school and college levels across Kansas and the work they put into broadcasting and media production.
“The awards ceremony recognizes the best media production work in the state of Kansas. The student’s work is judged against colleges from throughout the state from larger universities like KU and K-State to small community colleges,” stated Dr. Troy Comeau, Department Chair for the Department of Communications at Pittsburg State.
The competition is divided into two categories- audio and visual, each one having different subdivisions based on different kinds of broadcast media. One such example is from Brayton Lind, a graduate of Pittsburg State from the fall semester of autumn of 2025 who majored in communications with an emphasis in media production. Lind participated in the sports play-by-play category, where submitted a 10-minute clip from a men’s basketball game between two other universities- Central Missouri and Minnesota State- Mankato- that used Pittsburg State as a neutral site during the Central Region Challenge in November of last year. Lind did play-by-play commentary for the event alongside Collin Hammons, a fellow communications major.
“The story behind the game was that it featured two strong Central Region teams getting an early season look at each other to evaluate competition for possible postseason matchups later on,” commented Lind. “It turned into a fast-paced, highlight-filled game that kept me and my partner engaged throughout, starting with an emphatic alley-oop from Minnesota State Mankato, quickly followed by Central Missouri responding with one of their own. With it being early in the season, there were no clear expectations or favorites, which made the broadcast even more exciting.”
Lind won an honorable mention for his piece. However, he wasn’t the only winner. Other media production students from Pittsburg State also won at this event, including two first place finishes by DJ Miller, who submitted “DJ Brown Demo Aircheck” in the On-Air Personality category, as well as Drake Miller, a 2025 graduate who did play-by-play for a men’s basketball game between Pittsburg State and Central Oklahoma.
Another winner was 2025 graduate Aaron Thomas for his documentary, “Preserving the Big Train: A Family’s Gift to Humboldt,” about the family of Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson, a native of Humboldt, KS, and the celebration of his legacy in their town.
“I felt honored to see this project recognized, and I’m grateful for any exposure that helps raise awareness of the documentary and the work happening in Humboldt” commented Thomas.
Other recipients of awards include Alexandria Acheson, who received a 2nd place for a brand identity video for the city of Pittsburg, Zack Farabough, who received 2nd place in the Sport Color Commentary category with commentary on a match between Pittsburg State and Arkansas- Fort Smith, and David Sheets, who got an honorable mention when he covered the SEK Recycling Plant temporarily shutting down, and Titus Conrad got an honorable mention for making a season preview for the men’s basketball team.