STANDARD CATEGORIES

Please read the category descriptions carefully. There have been some new categories added and changes to others.

1. About Access: created to inform the viewer about an access center, access channel, or the concept of public, educational, or government access.

2. Access-Able: produced by individuals with developmental or physical challenges about disability issues and concerns.

3. Access Program Promo: short promotional video, less than 5 minutes, about an access program or channel

4. Children’s Programs: informational or entertainment programs targeted for children up to twelve years old.

5. Community Events: coverage of parades, awards, and special community events.

6. Computer Animation:complete programs created using 2D or 3D animation techniques like stop action, claymation, wireframe, etc. Opening and closing title sequences from other types of programs are not eligible for this category.

7. Cultural & International Perspectives: programs that celebrate our differences and enhance our appreciation of diverse ethnic and cultural groups or lead to greater understanding of foreign countries their people and customs. (Transcript required for programs in a language other than English.)

8. Democracy in Action: programs that cover national, state, or local elections including interviews, commentary, debates, candidate forums, etc.

9. Documentary Event: documentary format programs about a real life occurrence or event. Programs must be at least 15 minutes in length.

10. Documentary Profile: documentary format programs about a place, organization or person. Programs must be at least 15 minutes in length.

11. Documentary Public Awareness: documentary format programs that examine an issue of social importance. Programs must be at least 15 minutes in length.

12. Educational Activities: videos that describe school sponsored programs or feature events, other than sports or performing arts, which are sponsored by educational institutions or school districts.

13. Educational Class Project K-12 (youth division only): programs produced by K-12 students as a school assignment to create a video or as video documentation of a school class project or assignment

14. Educational Profile: programs that promote educational institutions or showcase the school or district students or employees at work

15. Empowerment: programs that exemplify how community access television empowers people to speak out about issues that affect them.

16. Entertainment Talk Show: a light subject discussion program or interviews designed to entertain the audience that is shot in a studio or on location with limited roll-in footage.

17. Entertainment Variety: programs designed to amuse and entertain an audience such as drama, comedy, musical acts or a combination of entertainment segments.

18. Gay/Lesbian: programs created about subjects of interest or concern to Gay, Lesbian, or bisexual people.

19. Government Activities: videos that describe government programs and services or feature events sponsored by government agencies.

20. Government Profile: programs that feature government departments or showcase government employees at work.

21. Informational Feature: programs, other than talk shows, which are compiled from interviews, presentations, and/or visuals and are designed to inform viewers about a specific topic. Programs must be at least 15 minutes in length.

22. Informational Talk Show: discussion programs or interviews designed to inform the viewers about a specific topic. Program is shot in studio or on location with limited roll-in footage.

23. Innovative: programs that utilize a new and unique form of presentation in an attempt to create a new genre or style.

24. Instructional/Training: provides “how to” advice or teaches a subject or skill.

25. Live Format: programming, other than local news, that originally aired “live” and is submitted with no post-production editing

26. Local Performances: music concerts, plays, or dance performances videotaped at a local performance venue or in a television studio.

27. Magazine Shows: programs comprised of several pre-produced segments or stories on a different topics that are introduced by a host or narrative.

28. Making A Difference: programs created to achieve a specific social, political, or community goal. The results, impact or action resulting from this program should be documented in the support materials

29. Music Video: features the creative fusion of original music and video images

30. News: regularly scheduled programs providing coverage of local issues, people, places and events through reports, interviews, and video clips.

31. Original Teleplay: presentation of an original comedy or dramatic script written for television.

32. Public Service Announcement: short videos, less than 1 minute in length, promoting a community event or organization or present a particular social message.

33. Seniors: programs about topics of interest or concern to senior audiences.

34. Short Subject: informational or entertaining programs, less than 15 minutes in length that do not easily fit into other categories.

35. Spiritual / Inspirational: deals with religion, or spirituality, or acknowledges a connection with a higher power

36. Sports Coverage: “game of the week” or coverage of a sports activity or sports competition

37. Sports Entertainment: programs about sports or athletes other than coverage of a sporting event

38. Visual Arts: programs about the visual arts or artists or visual arts activities or display

39. Website for Producers: Non-commercial website developed to promote a producer’s program. Website must be a stand-alone site that is NOT affiliated with a social network like Facebook or MySpace. Enter the URL of your site as the Program Title on the entry form and provide a print of the home page. .

40. Website for Access Centers: Non-commercial web sites developed for access centers. Enter the URL of your site as the Program Title on the entry form and provide a print of the home page with your supporting documentation

OVERALL EXCELLENCE CATEGORIES (Must be submitted by an access organization. Use the professional division)

The Overall Excellence award recognizes access organizations for their overall operational activities and programming efforts for the year 2006. There are three budget divisions in each category. Access centers may enter ONLY ONE (1) of the Overall Excellence Categories. Read the category descriptions to determine which one is most appropriate for your organization.

42. Overall Excellence in Public Access: Awarded to an organization that operates only the Public Access channel(s) and resources. Programming examples might include shows created by access staff, community producers, organizations, and individuals who have editorial control over the content of their programs. Centers who also manage educational or governmental access channels and facilities must enter the P.E.G. category.

43. Overall Excellence in Educational Access: Awarded to an organization that operates only the Educational Access channel(s) and resources. Programming examples might include shows created by the staff, faculty, and students of an educational institution or educational access center. Centers who also manage public or governmental access channels and facilities must enter the P.E.G. category.

44. Overall Excellence in Governmental Access: Awarded to an organization that operates only the Governmental Access channel(s) and resources. Programming examples might include shows created by government employs or staff of the government access organization. (Centers who also manage public or educational access channels and facilities must enter the P.E.G. category.

45. Overall Excellence in Combined P.E. or G. Access: Awarded to an organization that is responsible for any combination of Public, Educational, and Governmental access channels and resources (PE/PG/EG/PEG). The entry should include programming examples from all the channel types managed by this organization.