With the window opening June 1 for stations to enter their best work in the 2025 Spectrum Awards for the Best in Broadcasting, IBA is pleased to announce several new categories and changes that should improve the competition.
The IBA Board of Directors approved lowering the per-entry fees this year, to encourage more stations to enter more categories. And a post-event assessment of the past year’s Spectrum Awards produced some good suggestions for refining the award categories.
“We appreciate the opinions and recommendations made by station personnel responsible for Spectrum Award entries, as our members made several suggestions that will improve the overall awards program for radio and TV stations. We’re adding new categories in both radio and TV for Best Digital Media Presence and we’re also changing the Station of the Year process to better reflect winning entries across the competition,” said IBA Executive Director Dave Arland.
The Spectrum Awards celebratory event will return to The Cabaret in downtown Indianapolis on Tuesday, October 28 at an evening reception and dinner event that will follow the IBA Fall Career Fair on the same day.
“Feedback from attendees was very positive about The Cabaret venue, and several stations asked if we could stage an afternoon Career Fair and the Spectrum Awards on the same day. So we’ll be doing that this year,” Arland said.
Changes Coming
For Radio and TV Station of the Year, no additional submissions will be needed beginning with this year’s contest. Rather, stations will earn one point for each category entered as well as additional points for placing third, second, and first place. The overall winner for Station of the Year will be the broadcaster with the most points, with tiebreakers based on who has the highest placing entries and stations who place highest in Local Community Impact.
Both Radio and TV stations will have new categories for Best Digital Media Presence, reflecting the fact that social media and station websites can be excellent ways for a station to further amplify its daily broadcasts and strengthen connections with viewers and listeners.
New for Radio
In addition to the new formula for Station of the Year and the Best Digital Media Presence, this year’s Spectrum Awards marks the introduction of a new category called Non-Commercial Radio Program of the Year to be awarded to a stand-alone radio program or show produced as part of an ongoing series. “This reflects the input from some of our non-commercial radio and TV members who wanted to have a category of their own in the Spectrum Awards competition,” Arland said.
New for TV
Television members will also be automatically entered in the Station of the Year competition and can enter the Best Digital Media Presence category. Entrants in the new Non-Commercial Television Program of the Year group will be judged based on creativity, imagination, substance, and production quality.
Another new category for TV stations is Television Weathercaster of the Year, which will be in addition to the existing Best TV Weather Coverage award. Weathercasters who enter will be judged on the ability to present weather and give a clear, concise reporting with consideration for writing, language skills, and production ability.
Entry Prices Reduced
“To encourage more entries, the cost to enter the Spectrum Awards has been halved this year from $40 to only $20 per entry. The window for the 2025 Spectrum Awards opens on June 1 and runs through the end of July. We encourage all of our members to put their best foot forward and enter this year’s Spectrum Awards for the Best in Broadcasting,” Arland said.
We encourage submitters to review the call for entries carefully as we have refined the language in other categories as well.
IBA Members can access the NEW Spectrum Awards homepage here. On this page IBA Members can view winners from last year, review the call for entries, make their submissions starting on June 1, and eventually register for the Spectrum Awards dinner event which will be held for the second year at “The Cabaret” located in downtown Indianapolis on October 28, 2025.
