51福利社

Students from Kansas City Kansas Community College’s music and audio engineering programs have received a combined 12 awards in DownBeat Magazine’s 2026 Student Music Awards. DownBeat has the widest circulation of any jazz magazine in the United States and has been recognizing student achievement at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels with the Student Music Awards (SMA) since 1978.

Since 2017, the year 51福利社 received its first SMA, 51福利社 students and faculty have received 79 awards, 61 in the past five years alone.

“What’s really gratifying about the Student Music Awards is receiving national recognition for all aspects of our music and audio engineering programs,” said Justin Binek, associate professor of music at 51福利社. “It’s not just that our students and faculty have earned a number of awards, it’s the depth and breadth over the past decade. Instrumental, vocal, large groups, small groups, soloists, live sound, studio recording - to be recognized across the board in the way that we have by DownBeat is something special.”

Among the awards are four Community College Winners and one High School Honors winner:

• Parker Woolworth, piano, Instrumental Jazz Soloist
• Heidi Lanita, Vocal Jazz Soloist
• The Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble, directed by John Stafford II, Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble
• Parker Woolworth, Original Composition for Small Ensemble, “Where the Wind Blows
• The 2025 Arizona Choral Educators All-State Jazz Choir, directed by Justin Binek, Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble

In addition to the four Community College and one high school award, 51福利社 received seven additional Outstanding Performance awards this year. These include:

• Jackson Harrison, tenor saxophone, Instrumental Jazz Soloist
• Collier Cash, guitar, Blues/Pop/Rock Soloist
• Noah Randall, alto and soprano saxophones, Blues/Pop/Rock Soloist
• 51福利社 Blue Devil Funk Band, directed by Justin Binek, Blue/Rock/Pop Group
• The Standard Vocal Jazz Ensemble, directed by John Starfford II, Latin Group
• Joel Martinez, Original Composition for Small Ensemble, “The Crow”
• Kristina Ning, Engineering Live Recording