Liberty team wins national 24-hour audio challenge for second straight year

Putting their skills to use in audio writing, recording, and editing on the clock, a team of four students representing Liberty University’s Department of Digital Media and Journalism (DMAJ) won first place in the Intercollegiate National Religious Broadcasters (iNRB) 24-hour audio challenge, held from 6 p.m. April 16 to 6 p.m. April 17.

During that time frame, each team was tasked with constructing two one-minute PSAs from scratch that fit the year’s theme of “You are not alone,” which focused on mental health awareness in the church and local community. Liberty’s team worked on the project in the new location of Liberty’s radio station, 90.9 The Light, in Marie F. Green Hall.

[Listen to the team’s first-place PSAs]

Since the competition launched in 2016, Liberty has taken first place for three years (2016, 2020, and 2021) and third place in 2018.

The team’s faculty advisor, DMAJ professor Kornel Gerstner, said that this year’s contest brought new challenges.

“This year, kickoff time was in the evening, instead of morning, so students were up for over 36 hours (having attended classes), which made it very difficult to maintain proper focus all the way,” Gerstner said.

Lindevaldsen was joined on the team by fellow audio students Cameron Harris (’21) and rising senior Moriah Sprinkel as well as rising senior English student Elizabeth McKeever.

Lindevaldsen said that this challenge allowed the team to take many of the skills they learned in the classroom relating to recording, performing, and editing and put them to the test.

“I think the goal this year, since we had those expectations from winning last year, was to show that a team from Liberty can do just as good if not better,” Lindevaldsen said. “In the end, all you can do is create the best story and record the best audio you can.”

Lindevaldsen added that his experience as a sound designer for the Liberty-produced radio drama “The Encounter” has helped him develop the ability to work efficiently in a professional production environment.

“It definitely helped a lot with learning how to do things quickly and learning the techniques that you might not get to practice as much in class,” he said.

“These are the competitions that students will remember forever,” Gerstner said. “Students must work together and set aside the (distractions) while both their interpersonal communication and production-related technical skills are being tested for 24 hours. They still need to make clear decisions, because one simple mistake could make or break their project(s). I’m proud of our students because each student knew his/her abilities and strengths, and together, they were able to maximize their success.”