City of Iowa City Cable Division Wins Two Midwest Awards

Media Release

The City of Iowa City's Cable Television Division recently garnered two awards in a community video competition sponsored by Wisconsin Community Media (WCM). This year's "Best of the Midwest Video Fest," now in its 15th year, attracted nearly 190 entries from 28 community media centers from the midwest region of the Alliance for Community Media (ACM). Entries were submitted from Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The video awards will be presented in April during the 2013 WCM-ACM spring conference in Milwaukee.

"Iowa City In Focus," an interview-based program on the people, places, and projects of Iowa City, received an Excellence Award, the festival's top honor, in the series category among professional entries. The program, hosted by Producer Mary Bryant and produced by City staff, received the award for episodes which included: City Manager Tom Markus interviewing Parks and Recreation Director Mike Moran about the Terry Trueblood Recreation Area; an interview with Nancy Bird, the new Executive Director of the Iowa City Downtown District; and video features on the Johnson County Crisis Center's Project Holiday, the Northside Oktoberfest, and updates to the Iowa City Municipal Airport.

An Achievement Award, the second-highest honor, was given to the City in the documentary/feature category among professional entries for a short program, "Community Highlights: Bike/Bus/Car Race 2012." This program profiled the bike/bus/car race held in Johnson County each year during Bike-to-Work Week.

The programs may still be viewed. To watch the Community Highlights program on "Bike/Bus/Car Race 2012," visithttp://ec4.cc/jb4326df. Current and previous episodes of "Iowa City In Focus" may be viewed online atcitychannel4.com/video. A new, 15-minute episode is introduced each month, and airs daily. For a program schedule, visitwww.citychannel4.com/tv. Viewers can also turn to Channel 5 and call 319/356-5478 to access video playback via InfoVision.

Wisconsin Community Media's Video Fest confers three different awards -- excellence, achievement, and merit -- based on scores by a panel of judges from different states. WCM is a professional member organization that works with individuals, organizations, educational institutions, and local governments in the access television community to enhance communication on the local level. ACM's mission is to promote civic engagement through community media.