SUNY Oswego is making its mark on the national stage after bringing home multiple honors from this year’s Broadcast Education Association Awards. 

The BEA Festival of Media Awards is a national competition showcasing the best student work in broadcasting, film and digital storytelling. This year, Oswego secured two top-three finishes and one honorable mention, proving the program can hold its own against the country’s largest communications schools.  

Michael Lavalette led the way for Oswego, securing a first-place finish in the Instructional/Education Video category. His winning project was titled “State Social Media Bills and How They Affect a Minor’s Freedom of Speech.” For Lavalette, the win was as much of a surprise as it was an honor 

“I don’t really take that much pride in it,” Lavalette said. “I submitted this project on a whim. I just did it to see what could happen. I did not think I would get any kind of award.”

The communication from professors helped pave the way for Lavalette’s success. He noted he might not have entered the contest if it was not for the encouragement from his Media Law professor. 

“I would have not known about the festival if it weren’t for Professor Crider pointing it out, handing a flyer and everything,” Lavalette explained. check this out and see what happens’ – I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t for that.” Earning national recognition is a major milestone for building a professional resumé. Benjamin Goldblatt placed third in the Non-Narrative Audio category for his “2025 OCO Radiothon Interview with Lucas Jassak,” while Quinn Galuski received an Award of Excellence in Short Narrative File for the production “Sweetest Ambrosia.” 

Placing third  at the BEA festival meant a lot to Goldblatt, who spent hours preparing for a perfect interview. He admitted the recognition caught him off guard. “I didn’t expect it,” Goldblatt said. He noted that the win gave him a sense of relief to finally see his hard work recognized on a larger scale. “I just submitted it to put something out there, and when I won it, I was actually surprised and felt that my work was finally getting recognized.”

Having students compete and win in a national competition is one of the many ways Oswego stays ahead of the competition as one of the best broadcasting schools in the nation. It is a main talking point for Michael Riecke, the department chair and associate professor here at SUNY Oswego. 

“We try to remind our students all the time that they can compete with top talent across the country,” Riecke said. With Oswego’s recent success, Riecke knows this just is not an ego boost; it is proof that the university can create top-tier content alongside the country’s top programs. 

 For Riecke, being a professor is about more than just checking off a syllabus. He sees himself as a mentor helping students realize what they are actually capable of before they head out into the real world. By pushing students to enter national contests, Riecke is helping them bridge the gap between the classroom and a career. It is not just about getting an ‘A’ on a project; it is about showing a student from a mid-sized school that they can stand in a room full of top-tier producers and realize their voice matters. 

“Are we just saying that to beef up their ego, or is it true? And I think this is proof that it’s actually true,”said Riecke. 

Oswego’s deep roots in student collaboration, specifically within the walls of Hewitt Hall, provides a unique incubator for student creativity to flow freely. 

“It gives you an opportunity to always talk to them about projects, create new ideas,” Goldblatt said of the collaborative atmosphere. That spirit of collaboration is built into the walls of the building. For a lot of students, Hewitt acts like a second home, serving as a high-tech hub that actually feels like a professional newsroom. 

Having access to this kind of industry-standard equipment means Oswego students are not just playing with cameras; they are training on the same gear used by the professionals. When spending late nights in the Hewitt studios, the line between a “school project” and a “national award” starts to disappear. It gives students the technical edge they need to back up that “Oswego humble” attitude with actual results.   

As SUNY Oswego continues to invest in state-of-the-art facilities like Hewitt Hall. The underdog work ethic allows students to produce professional-grade content. This success allows students like Lavalette, Goldblatt and Galuski to set the new level of expectation for the school, while building resumés that prove SUNY Oswego graduates are ready for the national spotlight.