Every year, the Nebraska Collegiate Media Association (NCMA) hosts their annual “Golden Leaf Awards.” This awards show and clinic takes place in the spring and includes all colleges in the state of Nebraska with the exception of the Universities. These are Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska-Omaha, Nebraska-Kearney, and Creighton.

Junior year, Kirk brought home four awards: three solo and one with his fellow producers for Bronco News Now.

1st Place Feature News Reporting

Honorable Mention, Sports Reporting

Kirk submitted his story on Nate Polak getting drafted in the supplemental round by the New York Red Bulls for both feature news reporting and sports reporting. It took 1st for feature news reporting and honorable mention for sports reporting.

This story had to be done in a 2-hour period, as it had to air during halftime of the basketball broadcast the same night as Polak was drafted.

 

1st Place News Program

This is the Bronco News Now episode Kirk, Autum Conley, and Dan Stinman produced for the JMA301 Production class which took 1st place.

 

1st Place Event Sportscast

This award was won on the radio side of the Golden Leafs for a volleyball game between Hastings College and Doane. We haven’t got the ability to upload audio yet, but once we do, the entire 2 hour, 41 minute broadcast will be uploaded.

Kirk and his color commentator Ross Struss were referred to by people not even involved in the media/communications department as “HC Media’s Finest.” So until I can get that actual game posted, here’s a short clip from another classic, HC and Midland University in a conference semifinal match (uploaded by someone with no HC Media ties).

 

Senior year, Kirk did not fare as well at the Golden Leafs. He still won four awards, but none were 1st place honors, and three were honorable mentions.

2nd place Long Form Video

For the JMA 395 class, people did music videos, short films, and other various projects. Kirk made several apperances in other videos, but was also in the class. He chose to do his project as a short documentary of the Hastings Volleyball team’s improbable comeback, down 24-19 in a tiebreak set, to win 26-24 and advance to single-elimination play.

Titled Comeback City, we look at the comeback through the eyes of star player Kendra Schwein and head coach Matt Buttermore.

 

Honorable Mention, Long Form Video

For JMA 205, Broadcasting and Web class, archiving was asked, including photos, video, and audio. Kirk chose to do a video on the head coaching changes that had taken place in the previous few seasons with the volleyball team. 7 head coaches in 5 seasons is something worth covering, and Kirk sat down with two players who were there for it all.

Kirk also implemented this in his JMA301 Production class, and the final product can be found here.

 

Honorable Mention, Event Sportscast

On the radio side, Kirk and Ross went into Golden Leafs as defending champions in the Event Sportscast category. Kirk was asked to choose which broadcast to use the previous year, but senior year the station manager chose the broadcast without consulting. The station manager chose the conference championship game, which was Hastings’ only conference and home loss of the season.

Had Kirk gotten to choose, he would’ve chosen the exciting match between Hastings and Oklahoma Baptist from earlier in the year.

 

Honorable Mention, Transitional Element

The last winner Kirk received was also on the radio side, for a station ID Kirk had done the previous year. Kirk has the file backed up, but as mentioned above we don’t have the ability to upload audio yet. Once we do, this clip will be loaded, as it’s only 8 seconds long.

This spot played frequently from the time it was made in early 2012 until the station officially went off the air on June 30, 2016.