Student wins national broadcasting award

  Tuesday, November 11, 2014 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Adrian Herrera, a Pittsburg State University graduate student from Topeka, has won a national award for a video public service announcement he created to promote the university’s switch to GusNet, a secure campus wireless system. Herrera received a first-place award at the National Student Electronic Media Convention sponsored by College Broadcasters Inc. in Seattle, Wash.

Troy Comeau, director of the broadcasting program in PSU’s Department of Communication, said the award showcases how different departments on Pitt State’s campus can work together to create something that can be recognized nationwide.

Comeau said Angela Neria contacted him to see if he had a student available to do a PSA to educate students about the change to a secure Internet system.

“Adrian was looking for more material to add to his resume and he took on the project,” Comeau said.

Neria said the PSA was part of a strong effort to prepare students for the change.

“As we moved the traditional open wireless network to our new secure network, GusNET, we knew that we would need a full marketing campaign to effectively reach campus and communicate why this project was important and to encourage campus to move over to the new wireless seamlessly,” Neria said. “Adrian took the job on and exceeded our expectations. The professionalism of the PSA and Adrian’s ability to capture what we had in mind and create the perfect message was top notch. Not only was the PSA extremely successful in communicating the 'right' message so was the move to GusNET, due in part no doubt to the excellent work by Adrian.”

Herrera said he was happy to be honored as one of the top national finalists and winning the top award was a complete surprise.

“I was very excited to find out that I won.” Herrera said. “It’s great that our department can be recognized for its achievements and it’s nice that my work can be validated not only locally but on a national level.”

For more information on the broadcasting program at Pittsburg State University, call the Department of Communication at 620-235-4063.