File Photo/Pioneer
Bonnie Campo (left) and Casey Akard (right) are two of seven students who placed in a recent broadcasting competition.

Seven students from OCCC received awards in various categories from the Oklahoma Broadcasting Education Association.

Brandt Warner, Drew Stone, and Owen Pickard took home second-place awards while Matthew Coffey, Chavon McMillian, Casey Akard and Bonnie Campo each placed third.

Gwin Faulconer-Lippert, broadcasting professor, said the projects submitted to the OBEA are class projects.

“When I’m choosing the candidates for audio submissions, I listen to and review all the projects from the past year.

“I take into consideration the category the project will be entered in, the quality, and how creative the project is. Then I pick the top three for each category and enter those.”

Rick Allen Lippert, broadcasting professor, said he uses a similar process to determine which video projects to submit.

“I keep a copy of every student project, and the ones I think have a possibility of placing, I enter.

“If I don’t think a project has a chance of winning, I won’t enter it.”

Campo, a broadcasting major who placed third for a podcast, said she’s grateful to both professors for the effort they make for their students

“It’s $10 per entry and she enters 10 students as does her husband Rick Lippert.

“I think it’s amazing these professors … are going out of their way and spending $200 to make sure their students are receiving the [credit] they deserve.”

Campo said she’s excited to receive the award.

“It opens up doors for me, and creates opportunities for me to enter in scholarships.

“And it gives me a sense of validation that what I’m doing matters…”

Akard, broadcasting major, who won third place for her commercial “Doggone Funeral Home,” said she also feels honored to have received the award.

“I feel very fortunate to have had the education and guidance from my instructors to have been able to complete the project in a way that would help me win.”

Faulconer-Lippert said the OBEA awards are as important to the broadcasting community as the students.

“These awards are actually judged by broadcasting professionals, people that are doing the work every day in the trenches.

“I always feel excited because it shows them what students are doing in classes today and how talented they are.”

Lippert said he feels proud when his students win awards.

“Our students are competing against university students from all over the state,” he said.

“So when any of my students takes a first, second or even third place, that means they beat out someone, or many someones, from a university.

“So I’m always exceptionally tickled.”