Faculty members from Westminster College’s School of Communication judged entries in this year’s Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts.

Dr. Keith Corso, assistant professor of communication, and lecturers Kandice Hartner and Bradley Weaver judged student and faculty applicants in a blind-juried review process in the categories of audio, documentary, film and video, interactive multimedia and emerging technologies, news, scriptwriting and sports. Each analyzed submissions and provided constructive reviews to applicants.

“I volunteer as a judge because I value outside feedback and assessment for our students, and reciprocating that feedback is essential in my role as an educator and content creator,” said Weaver. “As a faculty member and student adviser, I have entered my students’ productions into the competition. While the recognition is certainly appreciated, the feedback is equally valuable.”

Corso and Hartner gained valuable feedback and ideas for their own students by being a part of the BEA Festival.  

“I was exclusively judging student submissions in the sports divisions,” said Corso, who teaches Strategic Sports Communication at Westminster. “Not only is it a good service to provide to the BEA, but it also gives me an opportunity to see what other schools are doing and possibly bring some of those ideas to Westminster.”

Hartner’s perspective as a first-time judge left her excited to contribute again next year.

“It was fantastic to see the different projects being produced from around the world. It was nice to see the content being created by other institutions and what techniques they are using to tell their individual stories,” said Hartner.

Corso joined the Westminster faculty in 2003. He earned his undergraduate degree from Westminster College, his master’s from the University of Akron and his Ph.D. from Capella University. In addition to sports communication courses, he also teaches classes in social media, group communication, broadcast and media.

Weaver has been a member of the Westminster faculty since 2000. He teaches courses in journalism, broadcasting and media production. He also serves as adviser to Westminster Cable, Titan Radio News, The Holcald student newspaper and wcn247.com. He earned his undergraduate degree from Alderson-Broaddus College and his master’s from the University of Kansas

Hartner, who joined Westminster’s faculty in 2020, earned her bachelor’s degree from Westminster. She holds two master’s degrees from Chatham University. She teaches classes in graphic design, publication design, digital photography, digital video, branding and animation.

Winners of the 2024 BEA Festival of Media Arts were announced on Feb. 16 and can be viewed at beaweb.org/festival.

The BEA festival is an international media competition focused on students and faculty from over 300 schools internationally. Over the last five years, 6,000 creative works have been submitted and reviewed for the festival. Westminster is consistently active in the BEA through both faculty and student involvement. In the past, Westminster work from both students and faculty has been recognized in various categories.

For more information about the Westminster's School of Communication, visit www.westminster.edu/communication.

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