Wisconsin Community Media, in conjunction with the Alliance for Community Media’s Midwest Region, has announced their annual award winners for the 2025 Best of the Midwest Media Fest.
The Sun Prairie Media Center is thrilled to announce that no fewer than 15 original shows created for either KSUN NOW, KSUN LIFE, or 103.5 FM The Sun Community Radio are set to receive awards at the fest, which will be held in Pewaukee on Thursday, May 1. The total represents over 13 percent of all awards to be given out at the event.
Included in the 15 awards are six “Excellence” awards: Mark Gonwa’s “Song Archaeology,” which is an hour-long music show hinged on unique themes; “Everybody’s Got a Story,” where host Sharyn Alden interviewed Lisa Smith, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Badgerland, Wisconsin; Dave Watson’s jazz program, “All Jazz;” Rose Daily’s “Sustainable Sun Prairie, which won in the Significant Community Program category for her devotion to educating Sun Prairie residents on how to live more sustainably; and finally, Tim Hatfield took home two Excellence awards. His first was for a Sun Prairie Showcase public service announcement, and his second, “Trees,” won in the short form documentary/feature category.
Three additional programs produced at the SPMC were selected for “Achievement” awards, including Calahan Steed and Ryan Gregory’s high school sports program, “Cap City Sportscast,” Sedrick Page’s “Front Porch: Interview with Briana Che,” and Marc Borland’s “Common Council” city meeting.
Finally, six SPMC shows are taking home “Merit” awards, including “The Traveling cheesehead: Holiday Gift Guide,” “Marc Madness Sports,” “Declaration of Indiependence,” “Library Expansion Series,” “Inside Your City,” and “The Allen and DJ Show.”
The SPMC staff is happy for our award winners, and they are grateful for them and all our producers, regardless if they entered a program to WCM or not, who create exceptional content for us, for Sun Prairie, and beyond.
The SPMC staff also wants to thank the Friends of Sun Prairie Media Center group for their continued support and for paying the entry fees so producers could enter the judging process with no cost out of pocket.
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 for the 2024 calendar year.
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, and all our shows, can be accessed by going to sunprairiemediacenter.com, 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.