Third-year Journalism student Andrew Huska accepts his National Student Award for Radio Spot News at the Broadcast Educator’s Association of Canada awards gala May 13.

Success matters at Durham College and third-year Journalism student Andrew Huska, has another accomplishment to attest to this. Huska recently won a Broadcast Educator’s Association of Canada (BEAC) National Student Award in Radio Spot News.

The awards gala took place on May 13 in Toronto where Huska became the first-ever Durham student to accept an award from BEAC.

When notified by e-mail last week, the award didn’t strike Huska as a major accomplishment at first. “I read it and didn’t check my mail again until a week later,” he said. “Once I started getting e-mails from important people, I realized it was a big deal.”

BEAC, a national organization that promotes excellence in media education, recognized Huska’s piece about the vandalism of All Saints’ Anglican Church in Whitby, Ontario. This was the second time the church was vandalized and shortly after his story aired, it burnt down.

Professor Anna Rodrigues from the School of Media, Art & Design, sent in Huska’s radio clip because it was one of the best created by a student all year. “It was of very high quality,” said Rodrigues. “He even called people outside of the school to get additional clips.”

Another one of Huska’s professors, Brian Legree, was also impressed with the award. “Andrew worries about words,” said Legree. “Even if he gets good grades, he still asks where to make improvements.”

Both professors were excited for their student and attended the awards gala with Huska. Still soaking in his glory, the soon-to-be graduate is keeping his options open. “I like the news aspect more than anything else,” he said. “I want to be where things are happening.”

In the meantime, he is applying for jobs locally, to begin his career. This is one student that’s not afraid to work hard.