2026 Awards
Congratulations to our award-winning students and faculty!

Student Awards
February 2026
Student Interactive Multimedia Competition – Emerging Media & Technology Category
Graduate Student Competition – Interactive Multimedia
1st Place: Saying their Names: The Virtual Experience Team; Saying their Names: The Virtual Experience Team, University of Miami
Student News Competition – Television Hard News Reporting Category
Student News Competition – Television Hard News Magazine Category
Student News Competition – Television Newscast (3 Days a Week or Less)
January 2026
Student Category Winners:

faculty Awards
Dr. Nick Carcioppolo, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, along with candidates and graduates of the Communication, Ph.D. program including Geyi Wang, Kaixu Yuan, Zixiao Yang and Dongya Wang published “When Humor Appeals Fail and When They Succeed: Using Latent Profile Analysis to Identify Audience Receptivity to Humorous Messages.” They received the Top Paper Award by the National Communication Association.
The research examines why humor works for some audiences but not others, identifying distinct audience profiles that help explain when humorous messaging persuades, and when it can backfire.