Staples’ radio station, WWPT, was awarded the honor of second best high school radio station in the country on Nov. 7 at the annual John Drury High School Radio Awards in Naperville, Illinois. Adam Kaplan ’16, Cooper Boardman ’17, Zach Edelman ’17, Jacob Bonn ’17 and Jack Caldwell ’18 all traveled with advisors Mike Zito and Jim Honeycutt to the award ceremony at North Central College after having been nominated for awards in various categories of radio shows.  

“It was an incredible experience to win best ‘Play-by-Play,’ and I’d say out of all of the accolades we received it was my personal favorite,” Boardman remarked. “For me, it’s an award I’ve been dreaming about for a few years, so to finally sit here and say that I’ve won it is amazing.”

Boardman, Edelman and Kaplan earned WWPT first place for the first time ever in the Sports “Play-by-Play” category for their coverage of the girls basketball championship game. Second place for this category was also granted to WWPT for an entry made by Boardman, Edelman and Bonn covering a Trumbull vs. Stamford basketball game.

“I’ve got to be honest, winning number one in the country […] alongside Cooper Boardman and Adam Kaplan felt amazing,” Edelman said.

In yet another display of dominance for WWPT for their sports coverage, Boardman, Bonn and Edelman won third place in the best “Sportscast” category for a sports update given on WWPT. Boardman additionally won second place for the best “Sports Talk Program” while Caldwell was another nominee.

To top things off, advisors Mike Zito and Jim Honeycutt both received individual recognition of their own by winning advisors of the year.

“Although I had received this honor before, this time is much more meaningful to me,” Zito said. “Mr. Honeycutt and I have been friends and colleagues for almost forty years. We’d always talked about working together, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to build a program together. To be recognized together in our final year is incredibly meaningful to me. “

With the second highest number of overall points determined by individual entries, WWPT ultimately weighed in as the second best high school radio station across the country.

“This was a remarkable experience [because of all] the hard work people put in to WWPT even if they aren’t nominated for an award, and to be able to say I collected the award is something I will never forget,” Bonn said.