KCSN won the first place honor in the society's "Mark of Excellence" competition that included entries from college and university radio stations representing 11 regions throughout the United States. The award will be formally presented to the KCSN staff during the society's national convention this October in Las Vegas.

"It's quite an honor to win the national award because the competition involved all the colleges and universities that have radio stations throughout the United States," said KCSN news director Keith Goldstein, the only full-time employee on the station's news staff. The rest of the division is made up of students majoring in broadcast journalism.

"The judges probably saw the consistency of excellence throughout the year that KCSN provides its listeners," Goldstein said. "We cover the top stories of the day as well as what's happening in government and issues like education and transportation. We are not the kind of station that focuses on car chases and crime. We cover a lot of governmental agencies that no one else does."

"The Evening Update" is a 30-minute news program that airs weekdays at 6 p.m.

Unlike most other competitions, where stations get to select what they want to enter into the fray, the Society of Professional Journalists' judges told the competing radio stations what broadcasts they wanted sent in. Goldstein was asked to submit broadcasts of "The Evening Update" from March, September and December of 2004.

"So the award really recognizes the consistency of the breadth and depth of our news broadcast," he said.

Goldstein said each "Evening Update" broadcast is a team effort involving eight to 10 students each night, working as writers, reporters and anchors.

"What this award shows is that Cal State Northridge's broadcast journalism program is right up there with the best college programs in the nation," he said.