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July 12, 2001 -
GHS-TV NAMED BEST
EDUCATIONAL
ACCESS STATION IN NATION
On Thursday night July 12th, in Washington, D.C., the
Alliance for Community Media will honor America's best local
access television programming. It will be a busy evening for
perennial winner Germantown Community Television (GHS-TV),
which will be accepting not only the most awards in its
nineteen-year history, but also the most awards of any access
station in the nation. Most importantly, Germantown Community
Television will be named as the Number One Educational Access
Station in the United States. This makes 3 times in the last
10 years that GHS-TV has been awarded this honor. In 1992 and
1997, the station also received number one status. Germantown
Community Television competed against over 1700 access
stations from all across the country for this prestigious
award. The Alliance for Community Media's Hometown Video USA
Contest is the largest and longest running video festival for
local cable programming in the northern hemisphere.
Overall, Germantown Community Television won twelve first
place awards. This remarkable feat is made even more
impressive by the fact that eleven of the twelve GHS-TV first
place wins are in categories in which the student station
competed against stations staffed entirely by adults.
Descriptions of each of the award winning programs is as
follows.
Crosstalk, the station's weekly talk show, garnered top
honors in three categories: informational non-professional,
educational non-professional, and informational student.
Student-produced access shows Spotlight on Germantown and I
Did It Myself both received first place honors, with Spotlight
on Germantown winning in the government profile
non-professional category and I Did It Myself winning for best
non-professional instructional/training show. Shelby County
Schools Report won in the professional magazine format
category. Election Night 2000 won in non-professional election
coverage. The 2000 Germantown Community Television Auction was
named best non-professional live program. In the
non-professional international category, Tolerance,
Friendship, and Understanding: The I.N.K. Experience was a
winner. 100 Visions was best in the professional educational
category. The "Access Together" opening tape was a
winner in the access program promo category.
Crosstalk, the station's student-produced weekly interview
program, covers issues and events that affect not only the
Germantown community, but also the entire Mid-South. With
topics ranging from African-American history to local
professional sports, and guests like legendary music producer
Sam Phillips, Memphis real estate developer Jack Belz, and
international filmmaker Hubert Sauper, Crosstalk is a show
that both entertains and informs GHS-TV viewers. The host of
Crosstalk was Michelle Hayes, and the show was co-produced by
AnneMarie Crumby, Allie Gay, and Steven Marinos. Justin Card
directed the program.
Spotlight on Germantown is a monthly access program hosted
by Germantown Mayor Sharon Goldsworthy. The show informs
Germantown residents about city issues and community
activities and offers reminders about Germantown city
ordinances. Mayor Goldsworthy interviews aldermen, city staff
members, and other prominent citizens. Rob Edwards and Colin
Wentworth were the producers of Spotlight on Germantown.
I Did It Myself, hosted by Susan Thompson, is an
instructional program directed toward enhancing the home. Each
month Ms. Thompson focuses on one particular theme,
encouraging viewers to utilize ordinary household objects in
extraordinary ways. Schuyler Smith and Katie Phelps produced I
Did It Myself.
Shelby County Schools Report, hosted by Jeff Capps, is a
monthly access program focusing on the activities of schools
in the Shelby County district. The magazine-style show
highlights different people, programs, and events that make
Shelby County Schools unique. Shelby County Schools Report was
co-produced by Jeff Capps and Justin Card.
Election Night 2000 was brought to the Germantown community
with the help of more than 200 student and parent volunteers.
On-screen talent included moderator Ashley Mitchell, and
anchors Allie Gay, Rob Edwards, Steven Marinos, Schuyler
Smith, and Frederick Young. The show ran live for more than
three hours and included exclusive exit poll results for the
city of Germantown, reports from the field, and interviews
with both state and local candidates. Michelle Hayes produced
the program.
The Germantown Community Television Auction is produced
each spring. This two-day event features special guest hosts,
including Saturday Night Live star Chris Parnell, GHS alumni
Allison Rogers and John Koski, television host Susan Thompson,
legendary voice-over talent Jack Parnell, and co-hosts Dick
Benson, Jim Goldsworthy, and Dr. Lyle Muller. Michelle Hayes
and Alex Jarman produced the award-winning 2000 show. The
money raised from the Auction is put toward scholarships and a
variety of programs offered to the students of the Poplar Pike
Playhouse and GHS-TV.
Tolerance, Friendship, and Understanding: The I.N.K.
Experience is a documentary that features highlights from a
series of recent cultural exchanges that took place between
Germantown High School and schools in Moscow and Vienna. This
acclaimed show was produced by Austrian intern Sebastian
Lichtenberger and GHS alumnus Chris McKinley.
100 Visions is a documentary that chronicles the 1994-95
cultural exchange between Germantown High School and the
Moscow International Film School. The documentary explores the
interaction among students from different cultural
backgrounds, the effect of personal relationships in breaking
down age-old barriers and stereotypes, and the power of art as
a universal language. Jim Barrett produced, directed, and
edited 100 Visions.
The "Access Together" opening tape starts each of
GHS-TV's original access shows. The opening tape includes
video from every access program and utilizes multiple graphics
and fast-paced editing. This award-winning tape was produced
by Jon Hayes.
This year there were more than 1700 festival entries from
the U.S. and several Canadian provinces and 145 first place
category winners. The winners were selected based on how well
they address community concerns, as well as technical quality
and execution.
In addition to its twelve first place honors, GHS-TV also
received honorable mention awards in the live format
non-professional category for Live Coverage of the 2000
Germantown Festival, the student class project category for
Truth·Frame by Frame, the access program promo
non-professional category for the "Access Together"
program promotion, and the documentary non-professional
category for Tolerance, Friendship, and Understanding: The
I.N.K. Experience. Also, for the first time ever, the station
received an honorable mention in the Overall Excellence in
Public Access category.
Established in 1982, GHS-TV serves as the community
television station for the city of Germantown. The station
cablecasts 400 hours of diverse programming each month to
Germantown citizens. Brought to viewers over Cable Channel 17,
this student-run station reaches more than 10,000 subscribers
in the Time Warner Cablevision system. GHS-TV serves as a
model facility that continues to produce original programming,
inform citizens, and educate young people interested in
telecommunications careers.
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