Gaylord College students earned top recognition in the 2026 Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association (OBEA) student media competition, which honors outstanding student work in television, digital media and scriptwriting.
The annual competition includes submissions from universities across Oklahoma and is judged by media professionals from across the state. In 2026, 11 universities had award-winning entries, with OU students earning the largest share of awards overall and more than a third of the competition’s first-place finishes.
Gaylord students were recognized across several categories, including documentary, narrative filmmaking, instructional video, promotional video, sports storytelling and scriptwriting. OU students also swept multiple categories, including instructional video, narrative, promotional video, sports story and long script.
Among the highlights, OU Nightly, Gaylord College’s student-produced broadcast, earned first place in the Newscast category, recognizing it as the top student newscast in Oklahoma.
The competition’s top commercial also went to OU for “AT&T: Created to Connect,” a project produced through a collaboration between advertising and creative media production students.
Award-winning students represented multiple Gaylord programs, including advertising, creative media production and journalism.
OBEA’s annual student competition recognizes work completed during the previous calendar year and evaluates entries across video, audio, scriptwriting and new media categories. Awards will be presented during OAB/OBEA Student Day on April 9, 2026.
| Category | Place | Project | Student(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video Category | |||
| Commercial | 1st | AT&T: Created to Connect | Noah Bryan and NSAC Team |
| Documentary/Series (Long) | 1st | Knights of Norman | Keaton Schallhorn, Jonathan Miller |
| Documentary/Series (Long) | 3rd | The Unseen | Michael Buchanon |
| Hard News Story | 1st | MNTC Bond Story | Abbie Franklin |
| Hard News Story | 3rd | Ada Tornado Story | Olivia Hayes |
| Informational Video | 1st | How To: Field Audio | Jesse Hodgson |
| Informational Video | 2nd | Sony FX3 Tutorial | Kaori Thomas, Murphy Barnett |
| Informational Video | 3rd | Shining Bright: Hunter’s Capstone | Kate Needham, Erika Clayton |
| Music Video | 1st | Roll of Dice | Cody Lowe, Austin Vaughn |
| Music Video | 2nd | Here’s to Us | Single Camera Production Class |
| Narrative (Long) | 1st | I Am Mai | Erik Phan |
| Narrative (Long) | 2nd | Undiscovered | Greenlight Creative Productions |
| Narrative (Long) | 3rd | Lovely | Hannah Mae-Mohon |
| Newscast | 1st | OU Nightly | John Hornak, Brody Lewis |
| Sports Personality Talent Reel | 1st | Talent Reel | Darby McCormick |
| Promotional Video | 1st | The Sacred Veil | Kate Needham, Gaylord Hall Productions Practicum |
| Promotional Video | 2nd | Jill Simpson: Right Place, Right Time | Bekah Algaze, Caleb Vu |
| Promotional Video | 3rd (tie) | 2025 Graduation Video | Sunny Foos, Autumn Hudgins |
| Sports Magazine/Talk Program | 1st | GameDay U | GameDay U Team |
| Sports Magazine/Talk Program | 2nd | Big Friday Sports | Andrew West, Aidan Tyler, Brody Lewis |
| Sports Magazine/Talk Program | 3rd | Sooner Sports Pad | Sooner Sports Pad Team |
| Sports Story | 1st | John Mateer Chipotle Story | Michael Thompson |
| Sports Story | 2nd | Mo Wague Story | Arib Dauhoo |
| Scriptwriting Category | |||
| Long Script (16+ pages) | 1st | Theseus | Adam Hobza |
| Long Script (16+ pages) | 2nd | Dog Bite | Hannah Mae Mohon |
| Long Script (16+ pages) | 3rd | Samantha Bradford Just Won’t Die | Nick Callegan |
| Short Script (15 pages or less) | 1st | Pistol of Pale Horse | Duncan Rumbaugh |
| New Media Category | |||
| Social Media Campaign | 2nd | The “Oner” | Advanced Single Camera Production Class |
