Riverside, Calif. (March 7, 2016) – For the first time, California Baptist University communication students have received awards from the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival Competition.

Brady Bersano's fictional feature, "The Good Man," won 2nd place, and Lauren Koski and Randy Plavajka's radio news story, "Through the Fence: Hazardous Opinions in the Arlanza Neighborhood," won Honorable Mention in the category of audio production for the 2016 BEA awards. The students will receive their awards at the annual BEA convention in April.

"I'm just really proud of the work that they did, and they were able to be really truly be multimedia journalists. It speaks to the program," said Heather Hamilton-Stilwell, assistant professor of journalism. "Our students have the talent. [This award is giving] them the opportunity to expose it."

Bersano's feature was a three-minute fictional story about a minor league baseball player who was facing several life dilemmas. Koski and Plavajka's story were part of a larger project that a group of CBU journalism students investigated for a news reporting class. The students looked into a chemical spill and the alleged effects it has had on the community.

While working on the story, Koski, a journalism and new media senior, realized how important journalists are to those who need help "raising their voice."

"I am excited we have received an honorable mention for this piece, but I am mostly just grateful for the experience we had while producing the story," she said. "It not only gave us real-world experience, but also the opportunity to invest in lives off campus."