Every year the Nebraska Collegiate Media Association holds the Golden Leaf Award’s ceremony to recognize various student media in small Nebraska colleges’ communication departments.

KWSC 91.9 the Cat, the campus radio station, KWSC-TV, Channel 6/Cat Vision, the campus television station, and the Wayne Stater were all honored at the event last weekend.

15 students and their three advisors, Dr. Mike Marek, Maureen Carrigg and Dr. Max McElwain, attended the 2015 Golden Leaf Awards, making the nearly six hour drive to Chadron, Nebr.

This year, Wayne State College’s KWSC’s 91.9 The Cat, radio station won first place for Radio Station of the Year.

This is the fifth time in six years that 91.9 the Cat, “Your Music Authority,” has been honored with the distinction.

“We got 19 total awards, six of them were first place. We swept two of those categories, getting all three places in both. We at 91.9 the Cat are very happy to have those achievements,” faculty advisor to the station, Marek said.

With four awards behind them, the current radio staff have been constantly measured against the successes in the program’s past. That legacy is what drives them to continue their high quality broadcasts and productions. Having a reward for all their hard work motivates them.

“I think that this award ceremony motivates students all year round. Awards like this should represent professional standards,” Marek said. “Having received this five out of six years is a tribute to students who work hard and take their work in the student media seriously.”

The radio station as a staff received many awards besides their overall best station win, including an honorable mention for a radio community service for their “Turkey Drop” event.

They also received all first, second and third place awards in the categories of Public Service Announcement Series and Remote Broadcast. For a Promotional Series, the staff won first place for the career fair, and second for their 24-Hour Remote event.

Individual students were also rewarded.

In the category of Radio Personality, Megan Kneifl received third place. Connor Ryan won first place for his entertainment program “Wildcat Wrap-up,” a sports talk show. For Event Sportscast Ryan received third place and Rich Rhoden received an honorable mention.

In the Newscast category Morgan Ruterbories and Landon Melcher won third place, while Justise Brundage and Natalie Barber received an honorable mention.

In the Public Affairs category Kneifl received an honorable mention for her “Wayne Word” broadcasts.

Matthew Ostry was honored with 1st place in the Public Service Announcement category for his Laser Tag piece and Brundage received second place for the same category with her S.A.B Murder Mystery spot. Kneifl also won first place for her station ID in the category of Transitional Elements.

The radio staff were not the only fourth floor media group to be honored.

The TV station also received some awards as well.

As a staff, KWSC-TV received third place for their games shows/talk shows in the Entertainment category.

In the Newscast category, Cat Vision received honorable mention.

Individuals honored in the entertainment categories were Nathan Seaman and Natalie Barber, first place for a game show/talk show, and Kneifl, Ryan and Regan Carriere, as a group, won second place.

Brundage received honorable mention for her public service announcements and Tyler Fransen received third place. Nathan Seaman and Zach Halsey received an award for their short film.

Brundage, a member of the 91.9 the Cat staff, as well as a staff writer for the Wayne Stater, received various awards at this year’s ceremonies and was a part of all three mediums radio, television and newspaper.

“The best part of being a part of all three is being able to blend them. So if I did the same thing for all three, how would it blend and change,” Brundage said.

As a part of all three media mediums, Brundage offered a unique perspective to the awards results.

“Overall radio did fantastic. TV did better than we have in the past. The paper won 17 awards, everyone did a great job,” Brundage said.

The Wayne Stater also received plenty of awards, including third place for its use of digital media and an honorable mention for overall layout and design.

Wayne Stater staff writers also received awards.

Sarah Lentz won first place for review writing and Tess Riecke received honorable mention for the same category. Rhoden received honorable mention for Feature Writing.

For the Investigative Reporting category, Lenz won first place and Hanna Conrad received third place. Dirk Schnoes won first place in the Series or Special Section and Tess placed second in the same category.

For Sports Writing, J’Ron Erby received first place and Brenden Buskirk received an honorable mention. Debbie Hernandez also received an honorable mention for her newspaper cartoons.

In the category of Special Graphics/Infographics Alissa Woockman won first place and Calyn Dunklau received an honorable mention. Conrad also received an honorable mention in the category of single inside page.

Lauren Davis won third place for a news photo. Lentz also won second place for a feature photo and Rhoden received an honorable mention.

“In many ways the contest is the high-point of the year,” McElwain said.

“Not only are students rewarded for their hard work, but they get to meet with student reporters from the state’s other top newspapers.”