North Greenville University’s mass communication students brought home seven awards from this year’s National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention and Exposition held in Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 22-25.

According to NRB’s website, the annual gathering is the largest recognized event dedicated to assisting those in the field of Christian communications.

The media awards program is designed to encourage excellence in production service to the community, faithfulness to the mission, commitment to the gospel and personal integrity.

In addition to providing 20 student volunteers for the convention, NGU had several students bring home recognitions. Twenty-three students participated in the 36-hour challenges in the areas of digital news and audio. The were required to produce an original NRB news report or audio production.

NGU students Rashad Simmons from Riverdale, Ga., James Smith from Simpsonville, and Meredith Wills from Greenville took home third-place honors in the 35-Digital News Challenge. Patrick Ford from Williamston, Johnson Greene from Greenville, and Samantha McSwain from Tigerville achieved second-place honors in the 36-Digital Audio Challenge.

In the Radio/Audio-Feature/Radio Drama category, Chelsea Bailey from McAdenville, N.C., and Samantha McSwain from Tigerville won first place for their North Greenville University Chapel documentary, and Elizabeth Pirkle from Salem and Seanna Walker from Anderson took second place for their NGU Twitter entry.

In addition, Travelers Rest native Mason Bayne’s short film, “The Gambler,” won third place in the short film category. Steven Goransky from Taylors took home third-place honors for his “Time Waits for No Man” music video, and Chelsea Bailey won third place for her North Greenville’s Vision 48 News Team A submission in the studio production category.