Recognition of one’s passion is no easy feat. But with a dedicated team, the journey can lead just about anywhere.

U-View, Point Park’s student-run broadcast production station, earned an honorable mention from the Broadcast Education Association’s Student Media Advisors interest division in the Signature Station Competition.

The Signature Station Competition’s mission is to award outstanding stations of student-run college radio and television for not only its programming, but superiority in production aspects including “philosophical engagement, community involvement, programming arrangement, branding/logo development, student management, volunteer recruitment and broadcast equipment,” according to the competition’s website.

The process for the team over at U-View began months ago, according to U-View’s station manager, senior Brittany Lauffer.

“Dr. Robin Cecala [U-View’s faculty advisor] sent us an email in late October saying, ‘We need to do this,’” said Lauffer, a broadcast reporting and broadcast production and programming double major, during a phone interview Thursday.

The application process included the creation of a video press kit highlighting the numerous features of the station, including a glimpse of clips from shows just a few years ago, said junior Trevor Sheets, co-producer of U-View’s morning program “Daybreak”.

“I think one thing [BEA] saw was how things have progressed here,”  Sheets said. “Not to say the old video was bad, but you can see some of the stuff we’ve learned to make the product better, we’re not just continuing to regurgitate what others did, but taking it and improving upon it.”

Furthermore, the team submitted several other pieces in of the application showcasing other features U-View.

“In addition to the video, we also had to submit some written documents incorporating different aspects of U-View, including what we do, our mission, what different shows we offer, what our different outreach to the school is and what we do with the community as well,” Lauffer said.

Specifically, Lauffer points out Daybreak’s participation within the university by interviewing different clubs and organizations and the inner workings of the school. 

“We involve so much of our school and that was a huge reason we won this award,” Lauffer said.

Don Ranasignhe, a junior broadcast production major who works as the programming director for U-View, is focusing on the station’s upcoming goals following the mention.

“We do need to step up with some of our equipment, but even with next year’s BEA awards, we’re going to submit again, and that’s what I’m doing now, shooting more footage,” Ranasignhe said at the U-View station in the University Center.

However, the most important push for Ranasignhe is participation.

“The biggest goal for U-View right now is getting more students involved,” Ranasignhe said. “I know there are a lot of freshmen and sophomore broadcast and production majors who think, ‘Oh I don’t have to get involved; I can push that to my last year.’”

Lauffer notes the opportunities U-View gives students, beginning at the very start of their freshman year which may have prompted the honorable mention.

“It was probably that we do get students involved so highly, at such an early point and that we give them opportunities to have an internship at the end of their freshman year,” Lauffer said. “Students come in here and learn the understanding of how to write a script, how to go on air, how to run production equipment behind the scenes.”

The honorable mention for U-View boosted the esteem of the young program.

“It’s nice to be able to be recognized, since we are a smaller school, as one of the better programs in the country,” Sheets said. “We aren’t that old of a program. [It’s nice] to see how quickly we’ve been able to get recognized.”