Thurston Community Media Earns National Recognition for Programming

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Submitted Thurston Community Media

Thurston Community Media (TCMedia) members and staff have been recognized with three national awards from the Alliance for Community Media (ACM), an organization that promotes civic engagement through community media.

Thurston Community Media
from left: Melissa Miller, Amy Layton, Luke Miller, and Staci Layton. Photo courtesy: Thurston Community Media

The producers of T-Time in Olympia – Lucas Miller, Melissa Miller, Staci Layton, and Amy Layton – will receive the Jewell Ryan-White Award for Cultural Diversity. The award is given annually to those whose efforts encourage involvement with community media by culturally diverse or underserved populations. T-Time in Olympia is a studio talk show on LGBTQ+ issues – with a strong emphasis on the T.

“Olympia’s Transgender community is diverse, including people of all ages, different walks of life, and each one with a unique experience,” says producer and co-host Amy Layton. “T-Time in Olympia focuses on open, honest conversations on a variety of topics that impact the greater LGTBQ+ community.” This is the third time Thurston Community Media members have received this honor.

Thurston Community Media
Andrea Capere. Photo courtesy: Thurston Community Media

Andrea Capere will accept the 2017 Emerging Leader Award. The award recognizes a community media professional, under 40 years of age, who demonstrates leadership in the field on a local, regional or national level.  Capere is the Director of Community Relations at Thurston Community Media in Olympia, WA, and serves as the ACM Northwest Region Board Chair. In her career as a community media advocate and independent filmmaker, Andrea has demonstrated her commitment to empowering individuals and groups to create change through the use of noncommercial media. This is the first year the Emerging Leader Award has been presented.  Erica Jones of Somerville, MA is a co-recipient of this award.

Let’s Talk Trash, a video produced by the TCMedia Young Producers Network (YPN) 2016 summer class, won Best Magazine Program in the Student Division in the Hometown Media Awards. TCMedia collaborated with Thurston County Solid Waste to make a program about a pressing environmental concern: food waste.  The YPN class, under the instruction of Frederick Dobler and Peter Epperson, used TCMedia’s HD field and studio equipment to create a fun, entertaining program while engaged in multimedia, project-based learning.

“We’re thrilled by the strong showing made by our creative members and staff,” said Thurston Community Media CEO, Deborah Vinsel. “It’s always an honor to be recognized for their efforts in community building and the diversity of programming seen on our channels.” TCMedia is no stranger to recognition for its exemplary content. Over the last 30 years, TCMedia has won more than 70 regional and national awards.

The awards will be presented during the national Alliance for Community Media conference, Rivers to Cross, taking place July 12-14, 2017 in Minneapolis, MN.

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