Image Alternative Text: Marty Lang, a communication professor, smiles in a head shot

MSU faculty, students earn national honors at Broadcast Education Association Festival

Mississippi State University faculty and students earned multiple national honors at the Broadcast Education Association Festival of Media Arts this spring, one of the premier competitions for student and faculty media work, highlighting excellence in film, scriptwriting, audio and broadcast production.

Image Alternative Text: MSU students pictured with certificates after winning 28 awards at the Southeast Journalism Conference.

MSU Journalists earn 28 awards at Southeast Journalism Conference

Mississippi State University student journalists earned 28 awards at the 2026 Southeast Journalism Conference earlier this semester, securing high-ranking placements in more than two dozen categories and demonstrating excellence across student media platforms.

Image Alternative Text: Photo of student winners from left, Wesley Webb, senior political science major from Oxford, Brooklin Gall, senior communication from Hattiesburg; Gracelyn Johnson, sophomore communication major from Amory; Ashton Stanley, senior professional meteorology major from Biloxi; and MSU Radio Station Manager, 91.1 The Junction, Becca Thorn represent MSU at this month’s Mississippi Association of Broadcasters awards ceremony.

Students break MSU communication awards record at MAB

Students representing Mississippi State University’s Department of Communication, Media and Theatre, along with MSU’s radio station WMSV-FM 91.1 The Junction, earned more than two dozen student and professional honors at the Mississippi Association of Broadcasters Annual Awards this month, pushing the department past its previous record and to a new high of 102 awards during the academic year.

Image Alternative Text: Photo of Wayne and Jo Durst sitting in the chairs in the MSU McComas Hall Theater

Mississippi Theatre Association honors CMT legacies with named awards

The Mississippi Theatre Association renamed two of its annual DramaFest awards in honor of longtime Mississippi State faculty members Wayne “Dur” Durst and Betty “Jo” Durst, recognizing their decades of service and lasting impact on theater education in Mississippi.

Image Alternative Text: Kate Myers Headshot and Aubrey Carter Headshot

CMT students rake in broadcasting awards, propel department to Top 10 national ranking

Two Mississippi State University students in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre have earned national placement in the Heart Journalism Awards program, one of the most prestigious competitions in collegiate journalism. The combined placements have secured a Top 10 spot for MSU in the national broadcast competition.

Image Alternative Text: Karyn Brown Headshot

Brown earns PRSA outstanding educator award

Mississippi State’s Karyn Brown is the recipient of the Alabama Public Relations Society of America’s Outstanding Educator Award, one of the organization’s highest honors recognizing excellence and influence in public relations education.

Image Alternative Text: Aubrey Carter Headshot

Communication student earns top 10 national placement in Hearst awards

A student in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre has earned national recognition in the prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards, often described as the “NCAA tournament of college journalism,” held this past fall. Aubrey Carter, a 2025 MSU graduate and current CMT graduate student, placed ninth nationally in the Hearst TV Feature Competition, one of the program’s most competitive categories.

Image Alternative Text: Photo of PR competition winners, left to right, Caroline Flint, Parker Acosta, Alice Ann Haab, and Maggie Heath

Pursuing PR Perfection: CMT students capture first place at regional competition

Mississippi State public relations students are proving their skills on a regional stage, earning first place in a competitive challenge and several top awards at the recent Southern Public Relations Federation, or SPRF, Annual Conference in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Image Alternative Text: Karyn Brown Headshot

Brown reelected to arts and sciences national board

Karyn Brown, a longtime Mississippi State educator and assistant dean for communication and media in the College of Arts and Sciences, now is serving a prestigious second term on the Board of Directors for the national Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences. CCAS board members are elected by the full membership during their annual meeting held this fall in St. Louis, Missouri.

Image Alternative Text: Tafada Wright headshot

CMT major among three MSU Rhodes Scholarship finalists

Three Mississippi State students are finalists for the prestigious international Rhodes Scholarship. The finalists are advancing to the last round of interviews Nov. 12-15 in consideration for one of the world’s highest academic honors. Tafada Wright, a senior communication major concentrating in broadcast and digital journalism from Spanish Town, Jamaica, interviews in Kingston, Jamaica.

Image Alternative Text: Marty Lang and Rex Jones Headshots

Storytelling Excellence: B&DJ faculty members rake in national awards

Department of Communication, Media and Theatre is making waves nationally with Assistant Professors Rex Jones and Marty Lang earning two of the four Best of Show awards in the Broadcast Education Association’s 2025 Creative Media Competition.

Image Alternative Text: Holli Seitz Receiving Grisham Master Teacher Award

Seitz receives prestigious Grisham Master Teacher honor

Mississippi State celebrated three faculty members Thursday, Aug. 28, with two of the university’s most prestigious teaching honors. Holli H. Seitz, an associate professor in communication and media studies, is one of the university’s newest Grisham Master Teachers.

Image Alternative Text: Photo of PRSSA Officers

PRSSA shines with Star Chapter, Gold Key awards

Mississippi State University’s Public Relations Student Society of America chapter is earning national recognition for its excellence in leadership, service and professional development, and one of its own is receiving a top individual honor.

Image Alternative Text: PRAM Student of the Year Photo 2025

Campbell named PRAM Student of the Year

Mississippi State spring summa cum laude communication graduate Rileigh Campbell of Caledonia is the Public Relations Association of Mississippi’s Student of the Year. Chosen for the honor based on her academic achievements, public relations experience and involvement on campus and in the community, Campbell’s selection was announced during the organization’s recent annual conference in Biloxi.

Image Alternative Text: ACEJMC Logo

MSU’s newly renamed Department of Communication, Media and Theatre earns national accreditation

Mississippi State University’s newly renamed Department of Communication, Media and Theatre is now nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications for its undergraduate programs in broadcast and digital journalism, public relations and print and digital journalism.