Z News, USF’s student news broadcast, placed first in the Dr. Majorie Yambor Signature Station Competition in February. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/STEPHANIE ELDER
USF’s student newscast, Z News, won the 2026 Dr. Marjorie Yambor Signature Station Competition from the Broadcast Education Association on Feb. 10.
The international peer-reviewed competition awards student news stations with outstanding achievement in college broadcasting — including in areas of hands-on learning, audience engagement and branding, according to BEA.
The USF student newscast placed second in 2024 and 2025 before placing first this year.
Stephanie Elder, an associate professor of instruction for USF’s Z School, oversees Z News.
Z News, formerly named Florida Focus, is an application-only six-credit TV-Practicum course composed of 11 to 15 students that operates as a professional broadcast news station.
Elder said Z News students organize packages for the following week, film their own newscasts to air three times a week on WEDQ and carry out behind-the-scenes work, such as producing and editing.
“I love working with student media,” Elder said. “Getting to watch these students grow from being scared to put their first package together to now [earning] station of the year, and that’s an international competition. I love it.”
Students are required to submit a reporter reel showing their prior work to be considered for placement in the class, according to USF’s Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications.
USF students who were part of Z News said the class taught them how to operate and collaborate in a professional newsroom setting.
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Luana Schneider Martins, a senior mass communications major, took the Z News class in both spring and fall 2025.
During her time in Z News, Martins covered USF’s women’s basketball team achievements, as well as a memorial held for former USF men’s basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim after his death in October 2024.
“Since my interest was in sports, I would pitch stories on the USF sports team,” Martins said. “I covered softball and baseball. I even did a story on the sailing team at USF.”
Martins said she got emotional when Elder delivered the news about the award.
Elder revealed the placement by recording a video that simulated a newscast featuring herself and Grace Ficara, a graduate assistant for the class.
The video mirrored how Z News would typically film, with a mock “breaking news” segment revealing the award, Martins said.
Martins said placement in the Dr. Marjorie Yambor Signature Station Competition was “always the goal” for the class.
“It was just a full circle moment to win the award,” Martins said. “I think we did a great job. And I’m very happy for all of us.”
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Jada Knobloch, a senior mass communications major, took the Z News class in fall 2025.
Knobloch said she worked as a reporter for Z News, which included tasks such as making news packages, producing shows and writing scripts and rundowns.
Some of her stories included a package about PopUp Bagels opening in Tampa last September, as well as former USF football head coach Alex Golesh’s transfer to Auburn University in November.
Knobloch said the class taught students how to operate in a “real news studio” and added that she and her classmates had a close-knit connection.
“My favorite experience from this class was just being together with everyone,” Knobloch said. “The class really becomes a family, [and] they’re what I’ll remember most from this class.”
She added that, as a newsroom, every function of the class depended on collaboration and on learning to work with others.
“You really rely on everyone in this class, and that’s a new learning curve for some people who work solo a lot,” Knobloch said.
The Z News class gives students “a lot” of responsibility for time management, Knobloch said.
“We’re in class for three hours twice a week, but I usually was two hours early for producing, anchoring or just to hang out,” Knobloch said. “I also spent my weekends working on news stories and editing, but it was worth every minute.”
Elder said she is proud of her students for their hard work to earn the award.
“I love my job,” Elder said. “I get to teach them in a real-world environment, and watching them graduate and move on and excel because of what they’ve done in this class is every teacher’s dream.”