Digital Media Students Earn 33 ICMA Honors
Buena Vista University junior named Student Journalist of the Year for the state
Buena Vista University students and faculty attended the Iowa College Media Association (ICMA) conference in person for the first time since before the pandemic. BVU students representing online newspaper, radio, and television earned 33 awards, including two major honors, in the ICMA annual student media contest.
For the first time since the award's inception, a BVU student was named the Pat Pisarik Student Journalist of the Year. Joshua Tigges, a junior Digital Media major from Carroll, Iowa, was recognized as the state’s top collegiate journalist for his outstanding contributions to student media leadership. Throughout the award ceremony, which took place at the Des Moines Downtown Marriott, Tigges was also recognized in 16 other awards for individual or team contributions in a variety of categories.
“We learned that Joshua was a finalist for the prestigious Pisarik Student Journalist of the Year award at the start of Christmas break,” said Dr. Andrea Frantz, who, along with Prof. Jerry Johnson nominated Tigges in the fall. “Just before the conference, Jerry and I learned Joshua had won, so it was a tough secret to keep, but we did. Joshua’s leadership and storytelling skills are unequivocally some of the best we have seen. He can do it all and does it with joy. This award rightly recognizes Joshua’s amazing skills and work ethic.”
BVU students earned 10 first-place awards throughout the evening in categories such as headline writing, opinion writing, photography, podcasting, multimedia storytelling, and best air personality to name just a few. KBVU was again named the collegiate Radio Station of the Year, an honor it has enjoyed for four years in a row.
Here’s a look at the 2023 Iowa College Media Association award winners from the BVU digital media department:
Video
- 2nd Place—Best Video Newscast: Joshua Tigges, Joshua Woolcott, Austin West, Cody Holtgrewe,
BVTV Crew - 2nd Place—Best Video News Programming: Joshua Tigges
- 2nd Place—Best Entertainment Storytelling: Joshua Tigges
- 2nd Place—Best Variety Music/Comedy Video: Colin Imhoff
- 2nd Place—Best Video Sportscast: Isaac Stone, BVTV Crew
- 3rd Place—Best Video Promo or PSA: Isaac Stone, Joshua Tigges, Carter Soyer, Jadyn Forbes, Joceline Medina, Lauren McCoy
- Honorable Mention—Best News, Public Affairs, Sports: Joshua Tigges, Joshua Woolcott
- Honorable Mention—Best Sportscasting: Joshua Tigges, BVTV Crew
- Honorable Mention—Best Corporate Video: Joshua Woolcott
Audio
- 1st Place—Best Air Personality: Joshua Woolcott "Woolcott’s Witching Hour"
- 1st Place—Best Promo: Joshua Tigges "Lights, Cars, Action"
- 1st Place—Best PSA: Joshua Tigges "Texting & Driving PSA"
- 1st Place—Best Radio Show: Joshua Woolcott, Joshua Tigges "Just Joshing"
- 1st Place—Best Long Form Audio: Joceline Medina "Divided by Law"
- 1st Place—Best Podcast: Joshua Woolcott "Z.E.O. Episode 1"
- 2nd Place—Best PSA: Joceline Medina "Dangers of College Alcoholism"
- 2nd Place—Best Show (Entertainment): Joshua Tigges, Evan Brincks "Nascar at Night"
- 2nd Place—Best Sports Program: Austin West, Nicola Veltri, Max Olsan "Sports on the Edge"
- 2nd Place—Best Audio Feature: Joshua Woolcott "Virtual Reality & the Future of Technology"
- 2nd Place—Best Long Form Audio: Joshua Tigges "The Great Retirement"
- 2nd Place—Best Podcast: Joshua Tigges "The Positive Point"
- 3rd Place—Best News Programming: Colin Imhoff "KBVU News 10-6-2022"
- 3rd Place—Best Sports Broadcast: Joshua Tigges, Evan Brincks, Lauren McCoy "BVU v. Dubuque VB"
- 3rd Place—Best Long Form Audio: Colin Imhoff "Finding the True Free Press"
Multimedia & Print/Online
- 1st Place—Best Multimedia Storytelling: Joshua Tigges, Max Olsan, Cody Holtgrewe, Clayton Van Horn
- 1st Place—Best Headline Writing: Max Murphy
- 1st Place—Best Opinion Writing: Hunter Vasey
- 1st Place—Best Feature Photo: Joshua Tigges
- 2nd Place—Best News Photo: Joshua Tigges
- 3rd Place—Best News Reporting: Jaxon Van Pelt
- 3rd Place—Best Graphic/Illustration: Blake McMillan
- Honorable Mention—Best Multimedia Storytelling: Joceline Medina, Rachel Hardy, Hannah Kramer
- Honorable Mention—Best Multimedia Slideshow: Blake McMillan
Radio Station of the Year—KBVU
Pat Pisarik Student Journalist of the Year—Joshua Tigges