Wisconsin Community Media, in conjunction with the Alliance for Community Media’s Midwest Region, has announced their annual award winners for the 2022 Best of the Midwest Media Fest.
The Sun Prairie Media Center is happy to announce that 18 original shows created for either KSUN television or 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio are set to receive awards at the fest, which will be held in Madison on Thursday, May 12.
Included in the 18 awards is a “Best in Show” winner for programming produced by a senior: SPMC member Tim Hatfield won the award for his short form documentary “The Making of the Wetmore Park Splash Pad,” which documented the construction of the city’s first splash pad.
Elsewhere SPMC programming was honored with two “Excellence” awards, one for its bi-weekly newscast “Sun Prairie News,” hosted and produced by Dan Presser, and “Wisconversations,” which featured a discussion with Elvis Cordova, Vice-President of Policy and Advocacy at the National Recreation and Park Association.
Six additional programs produced at the SPMC were selected for “Achievement” awards, including the 2021 SPARC Spring Candidate Forum, which featured participation from multiple city council and school board members and was filmed before the spring 2021 election, the SPMC’s 2021 coverage of the Sun Prairie High School Commencement Ceremony, the weekly movie review program “Reel Reviews,” Christine Bright’s “Parenting Game” series, and two 103.5 FM radio series: the “Multicultural Fair Radio Reboot,” which featured interviews with a wide variety of Sun Prairie residents, and “What Are We Building?”, a program about new building projects, development, and growth in Sun Prairie.
Finally, eight SPMC shows are taking home “Merit” awards, including four 103.5 FM music series produced by Mark Gonwa, “Greg’s List,” a 103.5 FM music series from Greg Bump, “Good Morning Sun Prairie,” Bill Baker’s Monday morning radio program, “Inside Your City,” a talk show featuring city administrator Aaron Oppenheimer and “Star” editor Chris Mertes, the virtual “Groundhog Day 2021” special that featured last year’s prognostication from Jimmy the Groundhog, and SPMC’s coverage of the WIAA football sectional final between Sun Prairie and Mukwonago that was broadcast live from Oconomowoc High School.
SPMC director Jeff Robbins was happy with the results. “We have a fantastic collection of member producers,” said Robbins. “And with a whopping 18 awards, clearly the judges for the annual Media Fest agree!”
“Besides thanking our awesome producers, I would like to thank our Friends of Sun Prairie Media Center group,” continued Robbins. “They picked up the cost for entry fees so producers could enter the judging process with no cost out of pocket. So kudos to our awesome Friends group!”
To be eligible for an award, a program must have been produced and/or distributed through the facilities of a community media center and premiered on a cable access channel, community radio station, or its website.
Want to be an award-winning community media producer? The Sun Prairie Media Center is currently looking for producers to take advantage of its awesome studio facilities and excellent staff. Anyone interested should call 608-837-4193 or check out sunprairiemediacenter.com, where program ideas can be submitted directly to SPMC staff.
Episodes of SPMC’s award-winning programs can be accessed by going to sunprairiemediacenter.com/ksun or by downloading the Sun Prairie Media Center app, available for free from the App Store or Google Play.
More information on Wisconsin Community Media and the Media Fest can be found at wisconsincommunitymedia.com.