Madison has yet more national rankings to celebrate! Madison City Channel, the City’s local government television station, has won FIVE national awards at NATOA’s 21st annual Government Programming Awards ceremony. The announcement of the awards at the annual conference of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors took place Friday, August 25, in Orlando, Florida.

MCC-12 won awards in the following categories:

FIRST PLACE in the "Video Text/Bulletin Board" category for MCC-12's "Community Bulletin Board". The work of City Channel's Tanya Anderson and Jennifer Hilgendorf topped some 20 entries including submissions from Los Angeles and Palm Beach County, Florida. MCC-12's "Community Bulletin Board" has been a frequent honoree by NATOA, taking 3rd Place in 2005, 1st Place in 2004 and 2003, 3rd Place in 2001, and 2nd Place in 2000. And, this is a tough and competitive category; as NATOA President Lori Panzino-Tillery noted, "EVERY channel has some sort of Bulletin Board!"

SECOND PLACE in the "Profile of a City/County Department (for Channels with Operating Budgets between $200,000 - $400,000)" category for "Share the Dream", a look at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, produced by MCC-12's Chris Lang and Monona Terrace's Bill Zeinemann.

THIRD PLACE in the "Promotional Video Campaign" category for City Channel's "Sesquicentennial Moments" series, produced by Chris Lang and Rebecca Kasemeyer of the Madison 150 Commission.

HONORABLE MENTION in the category of "Public Safety (for Channels with Operating Budgets between $200,000 - $400,000)" for "Stay Safe", a video on safety for kids, produced by Chris Lang and Mary Pat Chvala of the Madison Police Department.

HONORABLE MENTION in the category of "Overall Excellence" (for channels with Operating Budgets between $100,000 - $250,000).

Station Manager Brad Clark commented, “These awards once again solidify our place as one of the top government channels in the nation. While this conference may have taken place at Walt Disney World, it’s obvious that Madison City Channel is no ‘Mickey Mouse’ operation!”

Each year, NATOA recognizes the “best” local government programming as part of its annual conference. Entries are judged on the basis of creativity in achieving stated objectives, technical proficiency and diversity of programming. This year there were over 1100 entries in 63 different categories. For the complete list of awards and winners, visit the NATOA home page at <www.natoa.org>.