Local Producers Take Home Video Excellence Awards

The Midpeninsula Community Media Center (the “Media Center”), is proud to announce that four locally produced programs were chosen winners in this year’s Western Alliance Video Excellence, (WAVE) Awards. Five other programs were finalists. The awards were held Friday, October 27, in San Jose, CA during the Western Regional conference of the Alliance for Community Media (ACM). The purpose of the Awards and conference is to recognize and promote the best in local community programming produced in the region. The Western region includes Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico.

The winning programs and producers are Painting with Class, produced by Mariellen Baker; 3^rd Eye: Community Chat with the Chief, produced by the team of Jeanne Cuffey, Jesse Norfleet, and Richard Tatum; Other Voices: Surviving Katrina, produced by Nancy Brown and Paul George for the Peninsula Peace & Justice Center; and “Four Directions: Oil Consumption”, produced by Jenny Benorden & Zara Zimbardo.

Painting with Class, which won in the Instructional category, gives instruction and tips to artists. 3rd Eye took the top honors in the Public Forum category for it’s Community Forum , with Ron Davis, the police chief of East Palo Alto. The forum featured Q & A with a studio audience and open telephone lines. Other Voices, which took the prize in the Talk show/Issues category, featured first hand accounts from Katrina survivors and grassroots relief workers. Four Directions”, a uniquely original news and public issues show won the Informational Program category presenting a history of oil consumption in the U.S. as it relates to global conflict and environmental disaster. It also took 2^nd place in the open category of the Greenlight Earthday Video Festival in April.

Also recognized as finalists during the awards ceremony were: “She TV: Meeting Members of W.A.H.”., produced by Vicci Smith, (Talk show/Issues category); “Other Voices: The Great War for Civilization”, produced by Paul George (Documentary Events category); “Kid Chat” produced by Joan King, (Programs for Youth category); and “The Sport of Motherhood, produced by Genevieve Hutcheson Butcher” which received finalists honors in two categories, (Live and Live to Tape category ; and the Special Audience category).

All of the above and other local programs can be seen on the Comcast cable channels 27, 28, & 30, as well as streaming on the web. For more information, call The Midpeninsula Community Media Center (the “Media Center”) at (650) 494-8686 or visit our website at www.communitymediacenter.net. The Media Center also offers production training, along with accessible studio facilities, camcorders, and editing suites.