Honoring Some Special People

We hope you can join us in recognizing the recipients of our annual Special Awards during the 2017 Northeast Video Festival Awards Celebration on Friday, November 3 at the Falmouth Navigator, 55 Ashumet Road in Falmouth, MA. This year we celebrate these stars among our colleagues:

Brian Wilson Mentor Award

Cor Trowbridge, Executive Director of Brattleboro Community Television (BCTV) in Vermont, is recognized with the Brian Wilson Mentor Award, given to an individual who has served as an inspiration and mentor to others in PEG media.  She is cited this year for her work for her center and with VAN in the Comcast license procedure for Vermont.

From her nomination by Greg Epler Wood: “I was extremely encouraged by Cor’s concern to be as prepared as possible in her first negotiation with cable operators back in 2009. Cor was … not familiar with all the vagaries and types of documentation required for a PEG Access center negotiation with a cable operator such as Comcast, she took on an ambitious community needs assessment.”

Vlasta Popelka adds:  “Cor did plenty of research to prove to Comcast that BCTV’s and other PEG stations’ funding should be increased. Her passionate pursuit of truth and documented facts inspired others to do as much as they could to help. From this process she became confident in not only furthering BCTV’s mission, but also to be a committed stalwart against pressures by industry and regulators by taking an active leadership role in the state.”

Chuck Sherwood Leadership Award

This award recognizes an individual whose commitment, experience and/or accomplishments have made a significant contribution to the preservation and growth of PEG media in their community, state or beyond.  This year it goes to Anthony M. Arrien, Coordinator of Putnam Valley Community TV in New York.

Zeb Schmidt wrote:  “Tony is a tenacious and unrelenting force for PEG TV centers in NY and everywhere. He puts that passion to work through political and inspirational channels. Tony goes after legislation in New York State to save access centers and tirelessly promotes others to do the same. Tony is a brave, inspired person, and anyone who knows him will say the same. He is an inspiration to many.”

Both Tony and Zeb also serve on the ACM Northeast Board of Directors, where ACMNY’s work bringing access media to the darker corners of upstate New York is often reviewed.

Rika Welsh Community Impact Award

Five passionate nominations have put forward the name of Cheryl Webb Scott, Producer & Host of “The Total Woman” at Stoneham TV in  Massachusetts for having generated a project using PEG resources, a project that speaks directly to a clearer understanding of a cause.

Amy Brough Palermino, Executive Director of Stoneham TV, wrote: “Cheryl Webb Scott meets the criteria with her understanding of how to give women an outlet to showcase their creativity, talents and expertise. Her crew consists of local women with varied backgrounds, skills, ages and interests, but when they enter the doors of our facility, they all become one in their goal of letting women tell stories which will help other women.

“Cheryl has such a natural way of making her guests feel at ease and forgetting they are in a studio with lights, cameras and microphones, but rather she makes them feel as though they are sitting in a comfy setting while chatting about their passions and interests. Her guests have spoken about their knowledge of financial stability, local history, adoption, raising children with special needs, charitable causes and many other topics which have brought about a greater understanding of these important community.”

Cyndi Brandt, Victoria L. Rourke-O’Regan, Kate Ouderkirk, and Victoria Doran—all speaking from their experiences as guests and production team members of “The Total Woman”—praise Cheryl’s work interviewing women from all walks of life, “doctors and lawyers, actors and musicians.”

Cheryl has encouraged them “Through her well thought out questions she inspires women to tell their story and share their experiences in a way that is inspiring and motivating.” “She is an amazingly creative woman, and she so readily reaches out to other women who stand out in society in their own way…. She truly is a beacon of light shining out to women to help us on our journey through self realization and achievement.” “Cheryl is a natural born teacher and has brought in a diverse group of women over the years whose common interest in television production and a humanistic sensitivity has built a wonderfully enthusiastic team….”