History Awards
Leibner Cooper Grant
The LABF, in association with the Broadcast Education Association and the Leibner Cooper Family Foundation, awards each year the Leibner Cooper Grant ($2,500) for Creative Productions on the History of Media to a faculty member who is producing a documentary, news story, multimedia project or sports production focused on historical issues, figures and/or events related to media.
The 2024 grant went to Dr. Tim Bajkiewicz, for his project, Gathering Radio Stars: Creating an Oral History Archive of Influential Radio Disk Jockeys.
Bajkiewicz is a tenured associate professor of broadcast journalism at the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Broadcast Historian
Awards
The LABF, in association with the Broadcast Education Association, presents two Broadcast Historian Awards each year along with a $2,500 prize.
Broadcast Historian Book Award to an educator who has published a book specifically related to broadcast/media history.
Broadcast Historian Creative Award to an educator who has produced a documentary/multimedia project specifically related to broadcast/media history.
The winner of its 2024 Broadcast Historian Creative Award is Dr. Terry Likes, for his audio production, Sharing a Laugh: The Impact of Popular Culture on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
This program looks at the history and the popular culture impact of the dinner, featuring audio from current and former White House correspondents as well as memorable moments from Presidential speeches delivered at the event.
Likes is a professor and head of the Department of Communication at Mississippi State University. Likes teaches courses in Radio News Reporting & Podcasting, Sports Announcing and more.
No Historian Book Award was named in 2024.
Timothy E. Bajkiewicz, of Virginia Commonwealth University, accepts the 2024 Leibner Cooper grant from BEA Past President Michael Bruce.
Terry Likes, of Tennesse State University, accepts the 2024 Broadcast Historian Award from BEA Past President Michael Bruce.
About the Broadcast Education Association: BEA is the premiere international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production, and career advancement for educators, students, and professionals. There are currently more than 2,300 individual and institutional members worldwide. Visit www.beaweb.org for more information.
The Leibner Cooper Family Foundation: The foundation was formed by Carole Cooper and her late husband Richard Leibner. For more than 50 years, their talent agency, N.S. Bienstock, represented leading TV journalists, including Anderson Cooper, Megyn Kelly, Steve Kroft, David Muir, Norah O’Donnell, Robin Roberts, Bill Whitaker.