UFCJC students and alumni honored in 2026 BEA Festival of Media Arts Competition
University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) students, alumni and faculty were honored in the 2026 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts competition. The contest received 2,250 entries from over 300 colleges and universities.
In the Student News Competition, Journalism senior Alex Land received the Best of Festival in the Television Reporting Category for “The New Florida Follies: The Dance Stage Has No Age Limits.” Best of Festival is awarded to the first-place winner in a category that is also chosen as the top entry in comparison to the other winners in the same category group. This is the fifth year in a row that a UFCJC student journalist has won a Best of Festival award in the news category.
The full list of honorees includes:
Student News Competition
- Radio Feature Reporting: Award of Excellence, “Audio Postcard: Alachua County Birder,” Krista Jensen, B.S. Journalism 2025
- Radio Hard News Reporting: First Place, “Between Pressure and Hope: How an English Class Can Help Gainesville Immigrants Bridge a Cultural Divide,” Sofia Zarran, B.S. Journalism 2025
- Radio Newscast: Second Place, “Morning Edition,” Victoria Perez and Maia Labbe
- Television News Reporter: First Place, Juan Carlos Chaoui Reporter Reel
- Television News Reporter: Second Place (tie), Nicole Borman Reporter Reel
- Television News Reporter: Third Place, Alex Land Reporter Reel
- Television Anchor: First Place, Kirsten Maselka, B.S. Journalism 2025, Anchor Reel
- Television Anchor: Second Place, Juan Carlos Chaoui Anchor Reel
- Television Hard News Reporting: Award of Excellence, “At a Crossroads,” Kirsten Maselka
- Television Hard News Reporting: Award of Excellence, “Bradley’s Law: ‘His Life Was Important:’ Woman Petitions Lawmakers for Change to FHP Policy Following Son’s Death,” Bernardo Montas
- Television Hard News Reporting: Award of Excellence, “Oystering in Florida: A Dying Tradition Meets a Modern Fix,” Nicole Beltran
- Television Long Feature Reporting: First Place, “The New Florida Follies: The Dance Stage Has No Age Limits,” Alex Land, (Best of Festival)
- Television Long Feature Reporting: Award of Excellence, “The Rodeo Kid: An Unlikely Teen Roper,” Juan Carlos Chaoui
- Television News Magazine: Second Place, “Viviendo con la Tierra (Living with the Land)” Staff
- Television Newscast (4/5 Days per Week): Third Place: “WUFT News First at Five,” WUFT News First at Five Staff
- Television Short Feature: Second Place, “Carving Students’ Futures: How One Artist is Making an Impact Beyond His Studio Walls,” Victoria Perez
- Television Weathercaster: Award of Excellence, Matthew Clark Weather Reel
- Sports Video News Program: Third Place, “Gator Gameday 11-22,” Gator Gameday Staff
- Sports Video Story/Feature (Short): Third Place, “Racing with my Mom,” Hayli Balgobin
Student Documentary Competition
- Micro Documentary: Award of Excellence, “A Human Museum,” Emma Twombley, Caia Reese, Zoe Hansen and Emma Harder
- Micro Documentary: Award of Excellence, “Kosmic Lunches on the Green,” Carl Cinquino, Emma Casey and Isabel Benegas
- Short Form Documentary: Award of Excellence, “Burning Florida,” Kade Sowers, Kris Miron, Ryan Campbell and Matthew Leber
- Short Form Documentary: Award of Excellence, “Love Thy Neighbor,” Sarah Leon, Anais Ramentol, Michael D’Alessio and Natalia Irizarry
- Mini Narrative: Award of Excellence, “The Sorrows of the Past,” Sarah Leon
- Short Narrative: Second Place, “Partners in Crime,” Christina Riolo, Donovan Gast, Jianna Lash, Cole Groth and Paris Murtack,
- Short Narrative: Award of Excellence, “Roots of an Olive Tree,” Devin Russell, Danny Burtless, Rafa Arnaez, Azhalia Pottinger and Caleb Clary
The BEA Festival is the preeminent international media competition focused on student and faculty creative endeavors. Since 2022, participating schools are ranked based on the results from the BEA Festival of the Media Arts. The 2025 rankings feature UFCJC as fourth overall for number of winning programs, second in news programs, second in documentary programs, tied for fifth in film and video programs and seventh in sports programs.
The winners will be celebrated at the 24th annual BEA Best of Festival Awards Ceremony at the BEA2026 Conference on April 19 in Las Vegas.
Category: Alumni News, College News
Tagged: 2026 BEA Festival of Media Arts Awards Alex Land BEA Festival of Media Arts Best of Festival Juan Carlos Chaoui Student Awards
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