Welcome to the 2026 College Media Competiton

The MBEA Awards were created to showcase individual accomplishments and group projects from Missouri college students.  

2026 MBEA Awards entries will be submitted through the OpenWater awards platform. Log in with your username and password, or click ENTER NOW below to create a new account.  Audio, video and document files may be uploaded directly to the contest entry page.

Compatible formats for video include 3GP, AAC, AVI, FLV, MP4 and MPEG-2. This platform does not support reading Apple ProRes files or raw camera formats like ARRI and RED.

As an option, you may paste a link to your file(s) in the URL field(s). You should be aware that a full-screen preview will not be available to the judges from a YouTube link. The judge will need to copy and paste the link into a browser to view. Additionally, make sure your file is available until April 1st and that it is not password protected.

If submitting a document, use the PDF format. Word documents are not fully supported.

Please contact our contest administrator, Terri Stutheit, at the Missouri Broadcasters Association, if you have any questions or need assistance submitting your entries.

Click here for categories and criteria.

Deadline for Entries: February 2, 2026       

Enter Now

Rules

Only students enrolled in a Missouri University or College are eligible to participate. Students must have been enrolled at the time the project was completed to be eligible.

Only material produced between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2025 is eligible.

Students are required to secure permissions (talent, locations, copyrighted materials, etc.) prior to submission. MBEA will not be responsible for entrants who use materials, talent, locations, etc. without permission.

Entries will be submitted using the OpenWater Media Awards Platform.

Students may submit multiple entries, provided the following:

• A single project may only be submitted once.
• Students may enter multiple projects into the same category, but may only win one award per category.

Payment Information

Entrants must pay the entry fee at the time of submission.

$10 per entry for students at an MBEA Member Institution. Click here to see a list of Member Institutions.
$25 per entry for students at a non-MBEA Member Institution.

Online payments are required.

Judging & Awards

Judging of all the entries will be done by broadcasting professionals or qualified faculty (who have no conflicts of interest in the categories in which they will judge). Awards will be handed out at the spring MCMA/MBEA meeting, or mailed to the MBEA faculty member listed as the contact person at the student’s college/university.

Timeline

(subject to change)