UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A newscast with local and national segments, touching on timely issues and offering a humanizing perspective on a couple of emotional stories, was selected as the nation’s best student-produced newscast by the Society of Professional Journalists.
An April 4, 2025, episode of “Centre County Report,” produced by Penn State students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, earned a 2025 Mark of Excellence Award in the annual national competition conducted by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
The weekly half-hour newscast included an exclusive interview with the family of Timothy Piazza as they push to make fraternities safer nationwide. The newscast also offered reaction to the proposed closing of Rockview state prison in Centre County and included a segment focused on a local church with a history of helping people in Myanmar as the country dealt with the effects of a devastating earthquake.
The same episode of the award-winning newscast was previously honored as the nation’s best by two other groups — the Broadcast Education Association and College Broadcasters Inc.
“Centre County Report” finished first in its regional SPJ competition and advanced to the national competition as a result. The Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best in student journalism, in this case work broadcast or published in 2025.
In a separate category, “Centre County Report in Kazakhstan” finished second as Best All-Around Television News Magazine. That special episode resulted largely from an international reporting class trip to the country.