Concordia Sower student podcast “Talkin’ Dawgs” wins regional award

This past spring, several students on the staff of the Concordia Sower student newspaper won awards in the Northern Plains Collegiate Media Association (NPCMA) competition. One of these awards included a first-place award for Best Podcast for Cohen Carpenter and Kai Olbrich.

Carpenter and Olbrich won first place in the Multimedia-Best Podcast category for their “Talkin’ Dawgs” podcast. This podcast comprehensively covers Bulldog sports. The contest judge wrote, “Great local content, fulfilling a niche and showing real knowledge of the college’s athletic program. Anyone can talk national sports. Making local sports interesting is a vital skill in this industry.”

In addition, Nora Betts won two awards. She won second place in the News Reporting-Best General News Story category for her story “Students Get Ready to Vote.” The contest judge commented, “A very thorough news story covering a lot of different angles. Awesome work in incorporating students’ perspectives.” Betts also won third place in the Feature Writing-Best Feature Story category for her story “Love on campus: Courtship at Concordia in the 1950s.”

Carpenter, from Manvel, Texas, just graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice. Olbrich, a junior from Bennington, Nebraska, is majoring in Journalism and Public Relations. Betts is a senior from Scranton, Pennsylvania and is double majoring in Journalism and Public Relations, and English.

The awards were presented March 29 at the University of Nebraska-Kearney during the NPCMA’s annual conference. Concordia plans to host the NPCMA conference in the spring of 2026. The NPCMA member schools are Concordia University, Nebraska, Bethel College, Black Hills State University, Chadron State College, Doane University, Peru State College, University of Nebraska-Kearney, and Wayne State College.

The podcast and articles are available online at www.cunesower.com.

Concordia University, Nebraska’s student-run newspaper The Sower covers campus news for the Concordia community, while providing valuable pre-professional experience for its staff members. The Sower has a monthly print edition as well as an online site, and social media accounts that are updated regularly. Learn more here.