LUDLOW, Vt. – Okemo Valley TV, the community TV station and media center serving the Black River Valley and Okemo region, has announced the winners of its annual Producer Awards. The awards are given to community members and volunteers who have been active in producing programming over the past year. The four annual awards are for Producer of the Year, Youth Producer of the Year, Community Service, and Outstanding Achievement.
Producer of the Year goes to Norm Merrill for the coverage of basketball at Green Mountain Union High School, including all boys’ and girls’ home games. He is a Green Mountain teacher and parent of a GMUHS senior basketball player who recently graduated. We teamed up with Norm to provide live streaming and broadcasting of the games. It was a remarkable season for sure; not only were spectators not allowed due to Covid-19 – thereby increasing the value of the video coverage – but the boys’ team won the state championship!
Best Youth Programming: The youth programming producer of the year goes to Kata Welch from Cavendish Fletcher Community Library for her series of Story Time readings from popular children’s books. Far and away, it’s the steadiest stream of children’s programming we’ve ever had; and with her dynamic personality and energy, Kata makes Story Time fun for all ages!
Outstanding Achievement was awarded to Wendy Regier for “The People Speak,” a community reading of the U.S. Constitution. Prior to the pandemic shutting down in-person gatherings, Wendy coordinated and produced this community-wide project, which took place in our studio. The finished product is the complete Constitution, with nearly 50 different people reading a section. While the recordings all took place in late 2019, “The People Speak” premiered in October 2020, just prior to the election.
Community Service: The Ludlow Rotary Club took a challenging time and turned it into an opportunity to enhance its weekly guest speaker series. Through the platform of video conferencing, the Rotary Club brought in a diverse spectrum of speakers from all over the state – and even beyond – who provided entertaining, informational, and educational presentations. The recordings have been shared with us so that we can then share them with the wider community. We appreciate the work that the club put into this, and by making lemonade out of lemons for the community to benefit.
To view any of the videos from the award recipients, go online to www.okemovalley.tv/videos and type in the person’s name in the Producer field. For more information about the station and how to get involved, visit www.okemovalley.tv or call 802-228-8808.