With only 12 hours to script, record and edit an original audio piece, two Liberty University students took first place at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) convention which took place Feb. 17-20 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Junior Sara Zeh and senior Isaiah Shires competed together in the Intercollegiate National Religious Broadcasters (iNRB) 12-Hour Audio Challenge. Following the win, Zeh shared her excitement and surprise when they were announced the first-place winners.
“When they called us, we were really just shocked and excited that we placed at all and that it was first place,” Zeh said. “We were just very, very ecstatic about the whole thing.”
The mission of the NRB convention is to gather Christian media professionals and students from across the country to network, gain insight about their industries and exhibit their work. Leading up to the convention, individuals can submit their creative works to compete for awards. At the convention, students compete in film, audio and news challenges.
Associate Professor of Digital Media and Journalism Kornel Gerstner selected Zeh and Shires to represent Liberty at the convention this year.
“Both of them were part of my previous audio classes, and I looked at their projects and they were outstanding,” Gerstner said. “I liked Sarah’s creativity … I also appreciated Isaiah’s technical skills and post-production skills that ultimately created this nice synergy between the two of them.”
When the challenge began, the team was handed an envelope with the theme and requirements for their piece. The theme of this year’s challenge was focused on America’s 250th birthday and required a quote from the Declaration of Independence, the Bible, a famous person and needed a sound bite from a well-known figure. The piece also needed to discuss how America has developed since its founding and give suggestions for how the nation can continue to progress.
According to Zeh, the duo had their script written in about two hours before they recorded audio at the hotel. The rest of their time was spent editing and finding sound effects, music and other assets. The team finished early, submitting their project with an hour to spare.
Gerstner said their ability to move quickly through brainstorming and production is what distinguished them from other teams.
“This was the first time my audio team was able to submit this project well ahead of the original deadline, which was really unique,” Gerstner said. “When they got the envelope, they realized what themes, what specific items they had to include … Sara is an incredibly talented scriptwriter, although that’s not her major. But she just naturally writes good stories.”
The team’s project was titled “Freedom and Equality for All” and addressed the topics of slavery, racism and abortion. The piece labeled these topics as setbacks to the dream for the country as created by the Founding Fathers.
Gerstner said that their project was so strong that they won first place. At the convention, Shires also received an iNRB Production Award. He took first place in the Audio – PSA, Commercial or Promo category for his entry promoting Camp Hydaway.
Following the students’ successes, Gerstner encourages current and future students to hone their abilities in class so they may get the opportunity to participate in similar competitions or even be selected to compete at NRB next year.
“These awards are especially valuable because they help students build strong, real-world resumes,” Gerstner said. “It also provides a tremendous opportunity to showcase the Digital Media and Journalism program, the School of Communication and the Arts, and Liberty University.”
The next NRB Convention will be held in Washington, D.C. Feb. 23-26. For more information about the convention, visit https://nrbconvention.org/.
Here is a brief snippet of the students’ original audio piece.
DeWall is a feature reporter for the Liberty Champion.