UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A weekly newscast produced by Penn State students that streams online and airs across Pennsylvania thanks to partnerships with a variety of TV stations was named the nation’s best as part of a national competition.
The Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts recognized “Centre County Report” with its highest award — Best of Festival (News Competition-Student) — in a competition that included a pool of more than 2,250 entries from 300 colleges and universities.
Penn State’s award-winning newscast was an April 4, 2025, episode of “Centre County Report.” Individual students named with the award were Allie Wenskoski Sarah Schultz, Francie Ebert, Hannah Neurohr, Owen Gelber and Denys Khrulov.
The Broadcast Education Association (BEA) is the premier international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production, and career advancement for educators, students and professionals.
Best of Festival winners will be honored at the 24th Annual BEA Best of Festival Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 19, as part of the association's annual convention. During the ceremony, recipients will be recognized with a specialized screening of their winning project and a cash award of $1,000 from the Diana King Memorial Endowment.
Penn State entries also earned for other top finishes, specifically:
- Video Talent (Anchor/Host) Category: Third Place, Cailey Thalman
- Television Hard News Reporting Category: Third Place, Eric Morris
- Television Weathercaster Category: Award of Excellence, Filippo Formica
- Award of Excellence: “Student Firefighters Help Rescue Captain,” Danielle Dempsey
- Award of Excellence: "Experts Warn of Consequences from Cuts to the National Weather Service and NOAA," Mackenzie Bruns
- Award of Excellence: "State High Senior, Molly Workman, Excels in the Water and the Classroom," Anneke Wagner
About "Centre County Report"
The award-winning, student-produced "Centre County Report" newscast serves a dual purpose. It provides a source of news and information to the residents of Centre County and functions as a real-life laboratory for students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications learning to report and deliver news.
"Centre County Report" is produced by students in the capstone broadcast journalism course in the Bellisario College. The weekly program airs across Pennsylvania on WPSU-TV (PBS) to 29 counties and 500,000 television homes.
It also streams throughout Pennsylvania as the result of partnerships with KDKA-TV (Pittsburgh), KYW-TV (Philadelphia) and WNEP-TV (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre). Newscasts also stream in the Baltimore in partnership with WJZ-TV. Newscasts and segments are available YouTube as well.