On June 1 MATV, Maldens Media Center struck gold at the 2020 Hometown Media Awards, the largest national competition for Public Educational and Government Access (PEG) television and video.

They were selected as a winner of the Community Impact award, granted to them by the Access Center Professional Division. The award was for the video produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the outstanding community program Malden Reads: One City, One Book, a program that was started in 2011. MATV is one of the lead organizations, along with the Malden Public Library, supporting the program.

Initially a ceremony for the Hometown Media Awards event was to be held in Chicago on July 1 at the 2020 Annual Conference. Because of Covid-19, the celebration took place virtually on July 9, 2020. For this, Executive Director Ron Cox showed up with a celebratory drink and the award in hand.

The award was given by the Alliance for Community Media, or ACM. The ACM organizes, promotes and distributes educational media training as well as civic engagement in a wide range of fields and a with a push for diversity in the workplace and the community. “Founded in 1976, the Alliance represents over 3,000 Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access organizations and community media center throughout the country. The Alliance works to protect the interests of these access centers and those who use PEG facilities and equipment to advance their causes through cable television and the Internet.”

With several factors in consideration, not least of which including budget and subject, this is an annual program in which a panel of judges grant the award to the town who presents television in a new and exciting way that grabs a viewer’s attention.

Mike Wassenaar, CEO and president of ACM says, “The Hometown Media Awards celebrate both the excellence of work and the diversity of media that appears on community channels being produced around the country. The ACM Foundation is proud of their achievement and of how they represent their communities in their work.”