Members of the ??UNLV Latin Jazz Ensemble, and their director, Uli Geissendoerfer, won the prestigious 2015 DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award for Latin Group in the undergraduate college category. They competed against top university ensembles worldwide for the honor.

This is the eighth DownBeat Magazine Student Award for UNLV Jazz Studies students since 2010.

The DownBeat Student Music Awards, founded in 1976, are considered the most prestigious awards in jazz education. Hundreds of musicians, music educators and music industry professionals received their first international recognition as DownBeat Student Music Award winners. Winners have gone on to appear on the cover of DownBeat as professional artists. Scores have been featured in the magazine and have won either Critics or Readers Poll honors. Students have used this recognition to garner more than $10 million in scholarship opportunities.