Recent UNA Grad Earns National Honors for Broadcast Piece on Jack Voorhies

May. 4, 2009

FLORENCE, Ala. – Recent University of North Alabama graduate James Eric Herron won first place for a radio piece on the late Jack Voorhies he submitted for the 2009 BEA (Broadcast Education Association) Festival of Media Arts: Student Audio Competition Awards and Showcase. His award was selected from the Specialty Program category. Herron was extended an invitation to attend the April 2009 convention to accept his award.

Herron won first place after his professor, Dr. Pat Sanders, assistant professor in radio-television-film, suggested he submit it for the competition. His work was entitled “Jack Voorhies: Voice of the Shoals.” Herron produced the piece in Dr. Sanders’ Introduction to Radio Production and Performance class in the UNA communications department during the fall 2008 semester. The audio piece featured the career of the late Voorhies, a radio voice talent and personality known across the state of Alabama and the southeast.

Herron’s piece was selected from among audio works submitted by students nationally and internationally. He graduated from UNA in fall 2008.

Herron’s fiancée, Anna Askew, another UNA graduate, and Dr. Sanders attended the awards ceremony.