ABOUT THE CONTEST
Broadcast Excellence honors regularly-scheduled, student-produced middle and high school broadcasting programs who meet a standard of excellence. Programs will be evaluated on one show entry of their choice which aired during the 2024-2025 school year. STN is a program-based organization and contests are designed to evaluate programs based on the work done during a school calendar year. Entries must be original work which aired as part of the school broadcast and not edited after the fact for submission to this contest. Entries are $25/each per category. The deadline is February 3, 2025 at 5PM PT. Winners will be announced at the 2025 STN Convention and presented with awards on stage. Schools are not required to attend the convention to enter this contest. High schools are allowed to enter more than one category. Middle schools may enter more than one entry in its division, as long as the shows are different formats (daily, weekly, newsmagazine, sports, podcast, social, etc.).
Each entry will be scored and provided a critique by a professional who will offer their expert opinion and feedback, based on years of work experience in the TV/Film industry. Judges will evaluate entries using a contest rubric with a potential maximum score of 100%. All schools must have received a 70% or higher score to be considered a finalist. Distinctions will be announced at the 2025 Convention in Long Beach during the Excellence Awards ceremony.
Finalists will receive one of the following distinctions below:
Broadcast Excellence: Receive a score of 90-100% (Gold Standard)
Outstanding Achievement: Receive a score of 80-89% (Silver Standard)
Distinguished Merit: Receive a score of 70-79% (Bronze Standard)
Broadcast Excellence winners will come on stage to receive their trophy if attending the convention. Outstanding Achievement and Distinguished Merit recipients will be revealed at the end of the show. Those schools will not come on stage, but will receive a certificate and medal after the end of the ceremony. Awards not picked up at convention will be mailed.
All questions and concerns about contests can be sent directly to shonda@studenttelevision.com.
** Refunds will not be granted after your registration has been submitted. Please plan accordingly. **
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS SHOW
A live or edited show of any length or frequency that focuses exclusively on sports. The show must cover school sports, but may incorporate sports on a broader scale. This can include local, state, national and international sports, from news, features, and editorials. Show submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience.
HIGH SCHOOL DAILY LIVE NEWS SHOW
A daily news show that is broadcast live and not edited in any way. Live shows that do not air daily must enter the weekly category. Show submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience.
HIGH SCHOOL WEEKLY NEWS SHOW
A live or edited news show that is broadcast on a weekly basis. Shows that do not air weekly must enter the newsmagazine category. Show submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience.
HIGH SCHOOL PODCAST
A podcast of any topic, length, or frequency. Podcast submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience.
HIGH SCHOOL DAILY TAPED NEWS SHOW
A daily news show that is not broadcast live and is edited. Edited shows that are not daily must enter the weekly category. Show submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience.
HIGH SCHOOL NEWSMAGAZINE
A live or edited news/feature show that provides in-depth coverage and is broadcast on a monthly or less frequent basis. Show submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience.
HIGH SCHOOL SOCIAL SHOW
A show produced vertically and broadcast exclusively on social media, of any length or frequency. Show submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience. Due to the shorter runtime for social shows, please edit together your best three (3) shows and upload as one file.
MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS SHOW
A middle school news show that is broadcast live or edited, of any length or frequency. Show submissions must be as they originally aired for their audience.