WEIU-TV Recent Awards and Events
October 2026
Bennett Awarded Cronkite Scholarship
The Mid-America EMMY 2026 Scholarship Recipients have been announced. Fulfilling their mission to promote educational opportunities in Mid-America for the next generation, each student will receive a $5K scholarship.
Olivia Bennett of Charleston was awarded the Walter Cronkite Scholarship. Bennett is a senior broadcast journalism student at Eastern Illinois University with a passion for investigative reporting at WEIU and WTHI.
WEIU TV and Radio Earn Six Illinois Broadcasters Association Student Silver Dome Awards; Seven Others Are Finalists
WEIU Television and Radio earned six Student Silver Dome Awards and had seven other finalists from the Illinois Broadcasters Association (IBA) during the organization’s annual awards ceremony in Springfield last week, recognizing outstanding student work in television, radio, news, sports and weather.
The awards highlight the quality and variety of programming produced by students at Eastern Illinois University and showcase WEIU’s commitment to providing students with hands-on experience in broadcast journalism and sports media.
WEIU students were recognized as winners in the following categories:
- Best Newscast — WEIU-TV Newswatch
- Best News Package — Andrew Spaid, “Fit-2-Serve”
- Best Sports Package — Austin Perez, “Illinois Marathon”
- Best Photojournalism — Olivia Bennett/Matt Williamson, “WEIU Newswatch Airs Final Television Newscast”
- Best Weathercast — Ben Whitney
- Best Radio Sports Story — Austin Perez, “IMLT”
These other WEIU Students were also finalists:
- Best News Package — Emily Davis, “Droughts Impact Harvests”
- Best News Package – Ethan Vine, Andrew Spaid, and Matt Williamson, “Harvest To Home”
- Best Photojournalism – Andrew Spaid, “Coles County Dragway Renovations”
- Best Photojournalism – Olivia Bennett/Matt Williamson “Firefighters Tend To Explosion in Mattoon”
- Best Weathercast – Emily Davis
- Best Radio Sports Story – Andrew Spaid, “Linder’s Renovation”
- Best Radio Longform Entertainment Program – Emmett Micklo, “Summer Hits Special”
The Student Silver Dome Awards recognize excellence among Illinois college and university broadcasting students. The awards provide recognition for students who demonstrate strong storytelling, reporting, production, photography, sports coverage and on-air performance.
The awards represent accomplishments across both WEIU’s television and radio operations, reflecting the broad range of opportunities available to students through the station.
“We are extremely proud of our students and the work they produce,” said Jeff Owens, WEIU General Manager. “These awards are a reflection of their talent, creativity and dedication, as well as the outstanding learning opportunities provided through WEIU. To have thirteen different student entries recognized across television, radio, news, sports, weather and photojournalism is a tremendous accomplishment.”
WEIU, Eastern Illinois University’s public television and radio stations, provides students with opportunities to gain real-world experience in broadcasting while serving audiences throughout the region.
The Student Silver Dome recognition adds to WEIU’s tradition of excellence in student broadcasting and underscores the important role the station plays in preparing the next generation of broadcast professionals.
August 2026
College Broadcasters Inc Awards 2026
- Best Feature News Reporting: Amish Story by Ethan Vine
2026 Student Silver Dome Awards Finalists
- Best Newscast: "WEIU-TV Newswatch"
- Best News Package: "Drought Impacts Harvest"
- Best News Package: "Harvest to Home"
- Best News Package: "Fit-2-Serve"
- Best Sports Package: "Illinois Marathon"
- Best Photojournalism: "Coles County Dragway Renovations"
- Best Photojournalism: "WEIU News Watch Airs Final Televised Newscast"
- Best Photojournalism: "Firefighters Tend to Explosion In Mattoon"
- Best Weathercast: "Weather Forecast with Emily Davis"
- Best Weathercast: "Weather Forecast with Ben Whitney"
May 1, 2026
2026 WEIU TV Senior Award (Tie): Andrew Spaid & Matt Williamson
April 20, 2026
(Charleston, IL) – WEIU is excited to announce that the Illinois News Broadcasters Association announced their winners of this year’s SINBAs, honoring the best in student journalism. At the Best of Broadcast Awards in Champaign, WEIU-TV Newswatch took home multiple awards for excellence. Hit-Mix 88.9 WEIU took home an award as well. From standout reporting to top-tier production, the team continues to raise the bar.
News Watch won first place for Outstanding Television Newscast.
Olivia Bennett, Junior Broadcast Journalism major from Charleston, won first place for Outstanding Television News Reporting. Matt Williamson, Senior TV and Video Production major from LeRoy, won second place for Outstanding Television News Reporting.
Bennett won first place for Outstanding Television Sports Reporting.
Bennett won first place for Outstanding Television News Photography. Williamson won second place for Outstanding Television News Photography.
A member of the INBA board announced it was the first time in INBA history that the same person had won all three individual awards for television news.
Andrew Spaid, Senior TV and Video Production major from Lake in the Hills, won second place for Outstanding Radio News Reporting.
Spaid was awarded the INBA Don Brown Scholarship. Bennett was awarded the Fred “Fritz” Sorenson Scholarship.
(Pictured L-R: Olivia Bennett, Matt Williamson, Andrew Spaid)
April 14, 2026
WEIU announces the 2026 WEIU Radio and TV Center’s Daniel E. Marvin Jr. Scholarships. These annual awards are awarded to WEIU TV and Radio students who excel at WEIU and the classroom. Marvin served as Eastern Illinois University's fifth sitting president from 1977 to 1983 and approved the establishment of WEIU in 1983.
This year’s recipients are Junior in broadcast journalism, Olivia Bennett of Charleston, Junior in Sports Media Relations Austin Perez of Tolono, Illinois, and Sophia Artman who is from Bloomington, Illinois and is a Television video production major. Bennett works for WEIU News Watch, while Perez and Artman work for WEIU News Watch and Hit-Mix 88.9 WEIU.
(Pictured left to right: Bennett, Perez and Artman)
April 11, 2026
WEIU students and EIU faculty traveled to the Future of Media career fair at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago on Saturday, where they met with broadcast professionals and connected with prospective future students.
April 8, 2026
(Charleston, IL) - The Illinois News Broadcasters Association is proud to announce that two Eastern Illinois University broadcasting students have been selected to receive INBA Foundation scholarships.
The winners, who will be honored April 18 at the INBA’s Best of Broadcast Awards event in Champaign, were selected by a panel of INBA members who evaluated about 20 scholarship applications.
The INBA has been supporting college students pursuing degrees in broadcast journalism since 1963. During that time, including the $12,000 in awards being handed out this year, the INBA has awarded 223 scholarships worth about $225,000.
Here are this year’s winners from EIU:
OLIVIA BENNETT of Charleston is a junior at Eastern Illinois University majoring in broadcast journalism. She has worked as a Gray Television fellow for WOIO-TV in Cleveland; a producer, anchor and investigative reporter for TruBlu Crime Streaming; and managing editor, anchor and reporter for WEIU-TV News Watch. With this year’s award, Olivia is now a three-time INBA scholarship winner. Olivia will be taking home INBA Fred “Fritz” Sorenson Scholarship. Sorenson was a longtime reporter and anchor for WKRS radio in Waukegan and WCIA-TV in Champaign.
ANDREW SPAID of Lake in the Hills will graduate this spring from Eastern Illinois University with a degree in TV and video production. He has worked as a sports and news anchor, producer and sports director for WEIU-TV and was an on-air DJ for Hit Mix 88.9 WEIU. He also is a host and producer of the Anytime Sports Podcast, worked on the live sports production crew for ESPN+ and was a freelance camera operator for WQAD-TV. Andrew is the winner of the INBA Don Brown Scholarship. Don is the namesake for the INBA’s first-ever scholarship, given in 1963. He worked for radio stations in Iowa and taught at the Universities of Iowa, Illinois, and Arizona State and was instrumental in forming the INBA in 1955.
In addition to their scholarship awards, each of the winners is receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to the Best of Broadcast Awards event. One other student from EIU was named a finalist for scholarship awards and will get a free ticket to the awards event. The finalist was Matthew Williamson of LeRoy.
The Scholarship Selection Committee included:
- Devin Brooks, reporter/anchor, WQAD-TV, Quad Cities, a multi-time INBA scholarship winner himself and INBA board member.
- Jenna Dooley, news director, WNIJ in DeKalb, and INBA past president
- Rachel Lippmann, justice reporter, St. Louis Public Radio, and INBA past president
- Emily Manley, former Missouri capitol bureau reporter for Nexstar and former INBA vice president
April 1, 2026
(Charleston, IL) – WEIU is ecstatic to announce that students at Eastern Illinois University won eight distinct categories and was nominated in another category at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Student Production Awards – Mid America Chapter Emmys.
WEIU’s NewsWatch won the Best TV Newscast. NewsWatch airs every weekday at 5:30 p.m. during the school year.
Junior in broadcast journalism, Olivia Bennett of Charleston won six distinct categories. Bennett took home four different Emmys for her story on “Who Killed Barbara Bremer? An Investigative Series” in the categories of Hard News Report, Non-Fiction Short Form, Editor, and Writer. She also won for her Feature News Report “Home for the Holidays” and for Talent – News or Sports.
Matt Williamson, senior television production major from LeRoy, won 1st Place in the category Photographer for his 2025 TV Photography Reel. Williamson and Andrew Spaid, senior television production major from Lake in the Hills were nominated in the category of Feature News Report for “Mrs. Claus Remembers.”
