Beasley Broadcast : Media Group & The University of Las Vegas Unveil Media Innovation Hackathon Winners at CES 2019

Las Vegas, Nevada (1/10/19): Beasley Media Group, in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), unveiled the winners of the Media Innovation Hackathon initiative at CES 2019. The awards ceremony took place at 2 p.m. on Thursday, January 10^that the UNLV Office of Economic Development booth, located in Eureka Park (# 51765 located in Tech West/Level 1 of Hall G) inside the Sands Expo.

The purpose of the Media Hackathon initiative, officially launched in October 2018, was to generate potential commercial products and services utilizing existing media technology, data, and infrastructure, as well as to conceptualize the kinds of transformative, disruptive technologies that will become mainstream in the next 20 years.

The University of Las Vegas is an innovation leader in urban design, renewable energy, sustainability, and more. It was recently designated as a Carnegie R1 research institution, placing it among the nation's top 130 universities with the highest levels of research activity and further pushing forward UNLV's Top Tier Initiative.

Student teams spent the Fall 2018 semester detailing their visions of media innovation with guidance from University of Las Vegas faculty mentors. A panel of experts from Beasley Media Group and UNLV reviewed the proposals.

The winners received the following cash prizes provided by Beasley Media Group:

● 1^st place: $5,000

● 2^nd place: $2,500

● 3^rd place: $1,000

1^st Place Winner: Using AM/FM Frequencies to Charge Devices

Team members: Erick Serrano, Kristine Monsada, Matias Allietti, Ricardo Rodriguez, and Yuria Mann

UNLV faculty mentor: Natalierose Pennington (Communication Studies)

2^nd Place Winner: Augmented Intelligence in Smart Cities

Team members: Edison Smith, Peter Hernandez, and Aldair Callejas

UNLV faculty mentor: Si 'SJ' Kim (Entertainment Engineering and Design)

3^rd Place Winner: Fernwell App for Tourism Using Social Media

Team members: Ricardo Guzman, Ashtin Hofert, Joshua Padilla, Francisco Reyes, Allie Ryerson, and Fausto Vega

UNLV faculty mentor: Bryan Blankfield (Communication Studies)

'We love the idea of smart and logical innovations to ignite our thinking as a media company preparing for the future,' said Beasley Media Group Chief Executive Officer Caroline Beasley. 'Many thanks to UNLV and their next generation of brilliant minds for collaborating with us on the Hackathon initiative.'

'We are so happy with the collaboration with UNLV and in particular the Hackathon teams,' said Buzz Knight, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at Beasley. 'The spirit of smart and innovative ideas being showcased at the most influential tech event in the world fits perfectly with our core values at Beasley Media Group.'

'Part of UNLV's Top Tier mission is to increase its community engagement, which is advanced through beneficial collaborations with industry partners,' said Zach Miles, UNLV Associate Vice President for Economic Development. 'This collaboration with Beasley is one of these beneficial relationships, providing real-world opportunities for students, helping to solve industry problems, and potentially generating life-changing products and services for the general public.'

Photo: (L-R):

Bruce Beasley, UNLV's Dr. Mary Croughan, Consumer Technology Association Senior Director of Innovation & Trends (CTA) Ben Arnold, BMG's Buzz Knight, UNLV students Erick Serrano & Yuria Mann, UNLV's Zach Miles, UNLV Provost Diane Chase and Brian Beasley.

About Beasley Media Group:

Beasley Media Group, LLC is a subsidiary of Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc., which owns and operates 64 stations (46 FM and 18 AM) in 15 large- and mid-size markets in the United States. Approximately 19 million consumers listen to Beasley radio stations weekly over-the-air, online, on smartphones and tablets and engage with the Company's brands and personalities through digital platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, text, apps and email. For more information, please visit www.bbgi.com.

About The University of Las Vegas:

The University of Las Vegas is a doctoral-degree-granting institution of more than 30,000 students and 3,500 faculty and staff that is recognized as 'very high research activity' by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. UNLV offers a broad range of respected academic programs and is on a path to join the top tier of national public research universities. The university is committed to recruiting and retaining top students and faculty, educating the region's diversifying population and workforce, driving economic activity through increased research and community partnerships, and creating an academic health center for Southern Nevada. Learn more at unlv.edu.