Arkansas PBS named finalist for nine Public Media Awards including Overall Excellence in content, education, community engagement

Arkansas PBS has been named a finalist for nine Public Media Awards from the National Education Telecommunications Association (NETA) in the 52nd annual competition. The Public Media Awards honor NETA members’ finest work in education, community engagement, marketing/communications and content.

This year saw a record number of entries from stations across the country as new categories were introduced recognizing excellence in podcasts and digital media use, as well as awards in each category specific to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The entire Arkansas PBS team has stepped up in this challenging year to meet the needs of citizens statewide,” Arkansas PBS CEO Courtney Pledger said. “Recognition as a finalist in multiple categories for public media’s only national awards speaks to the quality of our work.

“Congratulations to every single member of the Arkansas PBS staff, without whom none of this would be possible.”

Arkansas PBS is a finalist in the following PMA categories:

  • Overall Excellence – Excellence in Content.
  • Overall Excellence – Excellence in Education.
  • Overall Excellence – Excellence in Community Engagement.
  • Marketing/Communications – COVID-19 Marketing/Communications for the network’s education campaign. While schools were closed due to COVID-19, Arkansas PBS, with the Arkansas Department of Education, met a desperate need by creating a multiplatform solution to keep students learning from home with “Arkansas AMI” (Alternative Methods of Instruction). This campaign was created to clearly communicate with families about easy-to-find resources from Arkansas PBS, PBS and Arkansas PBS LearningMedia. Tools available to the public included livestreaming of Arkansas PBS, a help desk, FAQs, a specialized webpage, a daily e-newsletter, the Engage Arkansas PBS app and a blog series. This effort also resulted in three additional cable providers carrying Arkansas PBS in areas with limited broadband access.
  • Marketing/Communications – Integrated Media Campaign for “GobbledyBook,” a literacy series that helps children develop a love of reading through fun, engaging videos and daily engagement activities. Each episode was carefully planned with the author, allowing viewers to hear stories from local celebrities, cool kids and other familiar faces. Associated activities and a robust, daily social media engagement campaign sparked curiosity and created deeper connections to each story.
  • Education – Educational Resources for the Community for “Arkansas AMI.” With schools closed due to COVID-19, Arkansas PBS, in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, kept students learning from home with “Arkansas AMI.” The eight-week effort included 400 hours of programming for pre-K to 8th grade and 24 original learning guides and was made available throughout the state on television, online and through the Engage Arkansas PBS app.
  • Education – Teacher Professional Learning for “Coaching Self-Expression – Go in, Poet.” In this teacher professional development course for Arkansas K-12 licensed educators, Arkansas 2019 Teacher of the Year Stacey McAdoo illustrates her relationship-based approach to nurturing expression in her students. She describes the underlying philosophy behind her guidance of The Writeous Poets, a youth performance poetry collective she founded with her husband, teacher Leron McAdoo. In these short mini-lessons, Stacey works intensively with individual students to coach them through revision of their writing. She also shares how the Little Rock Nine inspires her to give students the strength to raise their unique voices and to speak their own truths.
  • Content – Short Form for “Hazel Walker’s Arkansas Travelers.” Arkansan Hazel Walker was the only woman ever to own, manage and star for her own professional basketball team. For 16 seasons – from 1949 to 1965 – her Arkansas Travelers barnstormed the country playing only men’s teams under men’s rules with 80-85 percent of their games ending in Travelers’ wins. This segment, produced by Charles Eric White, also won a 2020 Mid-America Regional Emmy Award for Historic/Cultural – Program Feature Segment.
  • Community Engagement – National Project for “Country Music.” This multiplatform initiative included a Country Music Leadership Summit, eight screening events from a large concert, panel discussions and concerts. In conjunction with the Ken Burns’ documentary, Arkansas PBS produced the 30-minute, 8-episode series “Talkin’ Country,” more than 25 digital shorts, a podcast called “Country Fried” and a blog series.

This year, NETA partnered with The Brand Consultancy to develop the new awards program identity. Realizing that public media stations are stronger together, NETA used the concept of a mosaic as inspiration. The awards recognize a mosaic of the highest caliber programming, education, marketing/communications and engagement. Piece by piece and station by station, public media networks come together as choreographers of the public good, to spark more imagination and inspiration than ever could have been done alone.

Awards were judged by a group of expert panelists from within the public media system, as well as industry professionals working outside of public media.

Winners will be announced Tuesday, Jan. 26, during the virtual 2021 NETA Conference and Corporation for Public Broadcasting Thought Leader Forum.

Arkansas PBS, Arkansas’s only statewide public media network, enhances lives by providing lifelong learning opportunities for people from all walks of life. Arkansas PBS delivers daily, essential, local, award-winning productions and classic, trusted PBS programs aimed at sharing Arkansas and the world with viewers through multiple digital platforms, including livestreaming at myarkansaspbs.org/watch, on-demand services and YouTube TV, and the distinct channels Arkansas PBS, Arkansas PBS Create, Arkansas PBS KIDS, Arkansas PBS WORLD and Arkansas PBS AIRS on SAP. Members with Arkansas PBS Passport have extended on-demand access to a rich library of public television programming. Arkansas PBS depends on the generosity of Arkansans and the State of Arkansas to continue offering quality programming. Additional information is available at myarkansaspbs.org. Arkansas PBS is broadcast on KETS (Little Rock), KEMV (Mountain View), KETG (Arkadelphia), KAFT (Fayetteville), KTEJ (Jonesboro) and KETZ (El Dorado).