The bar has been set for 2026
While we didn’t think we could top our record-breaking 2024, the 2025 results are in: 9 awards, including two national honors and the prestigious Overall Excellence for New England. Alliance for Community Media festivals judge work from the previous calendar year. WPAA-TV’s legacy of excellence stretches back to 2013.
The highlight of our year is the Rika Welsh Community Impact Award for our #TeenTigerTV program. This recognizes 10 years of compelling content created by local youth in a youth-led program. 100 youth have come through the program—a partnership with the Workforce Alliance and the town’s Youth & Social Services Dept. Our students thrive with the support of local story and video coaches who bring real-world industry experience to the table.
A huge thank you to the Rika Welsh Community Impact Committee for this honor and to the youth who have worked through the discovery process with us over the last decade and the Board which nominated the program for consideration.
The 1st Job series, completed in our first summer, remains a wonderful window into our community (One of the guests is now our Mayor.) and the “1st Job” experience. Everyone was unique. From developing ideas to sending letters of invitation, and from learning the process to producing 30 interviews—it was hard to imagine doing it all over again. However, once those first few young people completed the process, we were encouraged by a funder to transition to a youth-led program (Youth Made Media). We developed work deliverables inclusive of a PSA and Capstone project, but the content itself was left entirely to the youth. Their “It’s Never Too Late” 988 PSA is just one testament to that vision. It is now available on PEGMedia.org.
The program continues Weekly Monday Evenings from 6-8:30 PM. “Do you know a teen who wants to learn media production? Send them our way!” They will discover more along the way.