The happiest place on earth brought some cheer earlier this month to the news team at KCSN, the public radio station based at Cal State Northridge, which was awarded two first place honors by the Associated Press Television Radio Association (APTRA) during a ceremony at Disneyland in Anaheim.

The KCSN team, which consists of news director Keith Goldstein and broadcast journalism students, received the award for “Best Newscast – more than 15 minutes,” as well as first place for “Best Serious Feature.”

The award was for an “Evening Update” broadcast on Nov. 5, 2009. The newscast included coverage of the Fort Hood shooting, the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry, pay increases for LADWP employees and the police backlog of DNA analysis rape kits.

The newscast team consisted of Eileen Carranza as anchor, Sonia Esquer, business reporter, Kristyn Fryrear, health reporter, feature reporter Claudine Sarmiento and field reporter Janete Weinstein.

The “Best Serious Feature” award went to broadcast journalist student Matt Johnson for his story, “Teacher Layoffs and Budget Cuts.” He beat out professionals in this category.

“The newscast was judged for its in-depth, high quality reporting which also included excellent writing and long form segments,” said Goldstein. “It demonstrated our capability to respond to breaking news, with detailed reporting on the Fort Hood Shooting. The broadcast journalism students also did a good job of covering issues related to homelessness and the demands being made on regional food pantries.”

The APTRA competition involved 12 states: California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska.

KCSN News competes in Class Two, which are radio stations with six or fewer full-time employees in the News Department.