The Prestige Awards is sponsored annually by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievements by Louisiana radio and television broadcasters. This competition was established to encourage the highest standards of reporting, community service and production creativity.
The 2024 Prestige Awards was held Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at the Marriott in Baton Rouge, LA.
2024 Prestige Awards
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2024 Categories and Criteria
Submissions for entries closed Friday, January 26th, 2024.
Please download and thoroughly review the Category Booklet below before working on your entries, there have been several updates this year including:
- The required clip of your entry has been reduced to :15 seconds, previously :30 seconds, EXCEPT Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame clips remain :30 seconds.
- If your entry does not meet the category’s criteria it will be immediately tossed.
- NEW AWARD: Producer of the Year which recognizes individuals who work behind the scenes to produce an amazing show.
- NEW AWARD: The Lagniappe Award is presented to a radio or television broadcaster who has done “a little extra” for Louisiana’s broadcasting industry. The intent of this award is to spotlight someone who is making a concerted effort to carry broadcasting into the future.
Advice for your entries: The judges live out-of-state and are not familiar with Louisiana stations and
local events. Give as much context in your entries as possible, demonstrate powerful story-telling and make sure the production is polished.
Award Markets
| Television | Large market | Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans/Metairie, Shreveport/Bossier City |
| Small market | All others | |
| Radio | Large market | Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans/Metairie, Shreveport/Bossier City |
| Small market | All others |
2024 Prestige Award Recipients
| Hall of Fame Al LeGrand, KTAL-TV Shreveport, LA | Hall of Fame Ben Terry, KPLC-TV Lake Charles, LA |
| Hall of Fame Eddie Blanchard, Delta Media Corp. Carencro, LA | Hall of Fame Lee Kleinpeter, KRVS-FM Lafayette, LA |
| Radio Lifetime Achievement Bobby Novosad, KSMB-FM Lafayette, LA | TV Lifetime Achievement Elwood Shields, KLFY-TV Lafayette, LA |
| Radio Young Professional of the Year T-Bob Hebert, WNXX-FM Baton Rouge, LA | TV Young Professional of the Year Lidia Alcala, KLFY-TV Lafayette, LA |
| Radio Broadcast Engineer of the Year Beau Wegmann, WDGL-FM Baton Rouge, LA | TV Broadcast Engineer of the Year Joey Verrett, WBRZ-TV Baton Rouge, LA |
| Student Broadcaster of the Year Jake Lambright, ULM/KNOE-TV Monroe, LA | Broadcaster of the Year Beth Arroyo Utterback, WWOZ-FM New Orleans, LA |
| Lagniappe Award LaTangela Fay, WEMX-FM Baton Rouge, LA | Best Podcast- Radio KBZE-FM, Morgan City, LA- Small Market WEMX-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Best Use of Digital Media- TV KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, LA- Small Market KSLA-TV, Shreveport, LA- Large Market | Best Use of Digital Media- Radio WNXX-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Election Croverage TV KNOE-TV, Monroe, LA- Small Market WWL-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market | Election Coverage Radio WBRP-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Best Morning Show TV KNOE-TV, Monroe, LA- Small Market WVUE-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market | Best Morning Show Radio KQID-FM, Alexandria, LA- Small Market KRVE-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Best Newscast TV KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, LA- Small Market KADN-TV, Lafayette, LA- Large Market | Best Interview Radio KRRV-FM. Alexandria, LA- Small Market WZRH-FM, New Orleans, LA- Large Market |
| Best Series or Documentary TV KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, LA- Small Market WYES-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market | Best Live On-Site Remote Radio KQID-FM, Alexandria, LA- Small Market WWOZ-FM, New Orleans- Large Market |
| Best Sports Show Radio WTGG-FM, Hammond, LA- Small Market WNXX-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market | Best Sports Show TV KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, LA- Small Market WDSU-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market |
| Best Weathercast TV KARD-TV, West Monroe, LA- Small Market WAFB-TV, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market | Best Radio Personality/Team KQID-FM, Alexandria, LA- Small Market WEMX-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Breaking News TV KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, LA- Small Market KTAL-TV, Shreveport, LA- Large Market | Producer of the Year Radio Paul O’Neill WNXX-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Producer of the Year TV Jason Duke KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, LA- Small Market | Producer of the Year TV Kevin Davidson WBRZ-TV, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Community Service Radio KVVP-FM, Leesville, LA- Small Market Guaranty Media, Baton Rouge, LA- Lg Market | Community Service TV KALB-TV, Alexandria, LA- Small Market KTBS-TV, Shreveport, LA- Large Market |
| Promotion of the Year Radio KRLQ-FM, Hodge, LA- Small Market WNXX-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market | Promotion of the Year TV KTVE-TV, West Monroe, LA- Small Market WGNO-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market |
| Investigative Report TV KALB-TV, Alexandria, LA- Small Market WVUE-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market | Multimedia Journalist of the Year TV Rickenzie Johnikin KTVE-TV, West Monroe, LA-Small Market |
| Multimedia Journalist of the Year TV Lily Cummings WWL-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market | Reporter of the Year TV Aaron Dietrich KNOE-TV, Monroe, LA- Small Market |
| Reporter of the Year TV Sydney Simone WVLA-TV, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market | Uniquely Louisiana Radio KVPI-AM, Ville Platte, LA- Small Market KOGM-FM, Lafayette, LA- Large Market |
| Uniquely Louisiana TV KTVE-TV, West Monroe, LA- Small Market WGNO-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market | Station of the Year Radio KVPI-AM, Ville Platte, LA- Small Market WDGL-FM, Baton Rouge, LA- Large Market |
| Station of the Year TV KPLC-TV, Lake Charles, LA- Small Market WDSU-TV, New Orleans, LA- Large Market | LAB Broadcast Scholarship Winners Olivia Dyer, Grambling State University Patricia Caputo, Louisiana State University |
2024 Prestige Award Entry Guidelines
ENTRY DEADLINE
Entries must be submitted electronically through the RockOurAwards.com website no later than 5:00pm on Friday, January 26th, 2024.
ELIGIBILITY
The Prestige Awards is open to LAB member stations which have a primary audience in Louisiana.
Entries must have been produced and broadcasted during the period from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023. Entries must be totally created and produced by the station. Material produced with outside advertising or production agency assistance is not eligible. Entries are limited to one per station in each of the categories EXCEPT Student Broadcaster of the Year. An entry can only be entered in one category.
LAB Member stations must be in good standing and have paid their 2023 dues.
All entries must have :30 second video with sound for the award presentation. If your submission doesn’t have this, your submission will be disqualified.
ENTRY FEE
There is no entry fee to participate in this contest.
LIABILITY
If it is determined an entry is not fully locally produced and/or is entered with false documentation, the station and ownership of that station will not be permitted to submit for that award for a period of two years.
As in any contest, conflicts may arise. Issues involving judging of entries will be resolved by the judges; their
decisions will be final. Issues involving interpretation of the rules and procedures of the LAB Prestige Awards will be settled by the Executive Staff of the LAB and, if deemed necessary by the Executive Staff, in consultation with the LAB Awards Committee. Their decisions will be final.
JUDGING
To insure objectivity, judging is conducted by a panel of broadcast experts from outside the state of Louisiana. They will evaluate all entries based on the criteria listed in the “Awards Categories” sections on the following pages. There will be one winner in each category. If the judges think an entry was submitted in the wrong category, they may move it to the proper category. The decision of the judges will be final.