Two EMST students and faculty member win 2026 BEA Awards 

Two students in Entertainment and Media Studies (EMST) and two projects by Matthew Nolte Evans, an associate professor in EMST, received awards recognition at the 2026 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts competition.  

Awards won by EMST faculty and students included: 

BEA Faculty Scriptwriting Competition: 

Matthew Evans, Best of Competition for “Hole-in-the-Wall,” Narrative Feature Category 

BEA Show Bibles Competition: 

Matthew Evans, First Place for Show Bible for “Storyville,” Writing Division 

BEA Student Scriptwriting Competition: 

Jaiden Arada & Priscilla Jackson, Award of Excellence for “SPF”, Original Television Series Pilot Category 

This year’s BEA Awards received a total of 2,350 combined entries with 426 students and 48 faculty winners from over 300 participating universities.

Evans’ “STORYVILLE”

“STORYVILLE” is a one-hour historical drama set in New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century, charting the creation, rise and eventual collapse of America’s most infamous legalized red-light district. The show bible outlines a five-season series centered on two real historical figures whose intersecting lives illuminate the political, economic and cultural factors that shaped the district and this point in American history.

Evans’ “HOLE-IN-THE-WALL”

“HOLE-IN-THE-WALL” is a sport comedy-drama currently embargoed while it is in development with producers. Evans explained the story is personal for him, as it’s set in his home state, Colorado.

“The BEA Festival of Media Arts is a special event because it brings together creative work from universities across the country, showcasing both faculty and student storytelling,” said Evans. “I’m proud to present Grady College at the convention this spring, and it means a great deal to see our students recognized on the national level as well.”

Arada and Jackson’s “SPF” 

“SPF” is an original story about Alana and her three friends in St. Augustine, Florida, who must contend with predatory tourists and wealthy seasonal homeowners that ruin their community. Alana and her chosen family must fight to stop the gentrification of their hometown.  

The idea for the screenplay came from the two fourth-years students deliberating ideas they wanted to explore narratively, and the two began discussing St. Augustine.  

“Priscilla is from St. Augustine and shared some of the tourist excursions there,” said Arada. “As someone who grew up visiting parts of Florida and seeing some of those tourist traps, we began brainstorming all the ways we could play with the settings and a unique cast of characters.”  

Jackson attributed their success to Evans’s guidance, providing valuable feedback and assigning projects influenced by real-world scenarios to inspire them to think more creatively.  Evans taught Arada and Jackson in his Writing for Television course.

“Receiving and providing peer notes as a class for every draft throughout the semester was a fantastic way to understand the dos and don’ts of storytelling in a TV series format by consistently reading our peers’ screenplays and breaking down what did/didn’t work in a constructive manner,” said Jackson. 

Shira Chess, associate professor of the EMST department, also provided helpful writing advice from her EMST analysis course.  

“Thanks to her, I was able to start writing for television, feeling confident in my voice and prepared for the work-level ahead of me,” Jackson said.  

Arada recalled the “surreal moment” finding both hers and Jackson’s names on the website.  

“Seeing that we were recognized amongst a pool of extremely talented creatives was truly an awesome feeling,” Arada said. “We both worked super hard to bring this idea to life. I could not have done this without my writing partner, Priscilla, and I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to work alongside one another.”   

Author: Sam Tupper, Samuel.Tupper@uga.edu