Entering competitions such as the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) HOMETOWN awards or Alliance for Community Media, Western Region (ACM West) WAVE awards takes a lot of planning. Even naming your prize-winning video to attract people to watch before you even make it can be a factor. Selecting your best program, choosing the right category, and providing judges with the right information to keep them interested so that they watch your whole program before marking your entry is essential. And, no matter what subject you choose, be sure to get your lighting and audio right as judging is intense….
WAVE AWARDS
The Western Region of the Alliance for Community Media selects outstanding programs broadcast through local Community Media stations and gives their prestigious Western Access Video Excellence (WAVE) award annually. The Western Region covers six states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico. Three finalists are selected in each category and division and First Place winners are announced and given Award Plaques at the ACM West Annual Conference. The other two finalists are given Finalist Award Certificates in recognition. For more information visit: ACM West
WAVE Awards 2024
Cupertino TV Productions is proud of its strong showing in WAVE Awards 2024. Two of our shows — Why Water Fitness and The Making of an Ikebana Master — were finalists this year and Why Water Fitness won in the Culture and Lifestyle Category. Congratulations to all!
Why Water Fitness
2024 W.A.V.E Awards First Place
A lovely and important show on water fitness that opens with a wonderful opening segment that gets you hooked to the show. Don’t just stop there because what follows is important information about exercising in water from a teacher and an aqua-fitness participant. And then you learn about a special benefit... The show won first place in Culture and Lifestyle category.
Producer: Melinda Reynard and Adek Hanukai
The making of an Ikebana Master
2024 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
A beautiful and a very popular show, going by the views it has amassed on YouTube, this is a must-watch. Besides its beautiful visuals and music, it showcases a very accomplished teacher and an engaging guest. After watching this show, you are likely to come away with some tips on the art of Ikebana flower arrangement.
Producer: Amy Reimann
Sharing is Caring, Building Our Community by Sharing
2024 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
A finalist in the Community Issues category, this is a show about building a community around produce from our backyards. Watch this to learn how to build one in your neighborhood.
Producer: Amy Reimann
WAVE Awards 2023
2023 was a big year for Cupertino TV Productions. The W.A.V.E Awards Ceremony was held in Santa Barbara’s Mar Monte Hotel on February 24, 2023. Cupertino TV Productions had five of its shows nominated as finalists in various categories this year. These included: Christmas All the Way by CTVP, ‘Cleaning up the Guadalupe Watershed’ and ‘Community Comes Together For a Park Project’ by Ranjana Mehra, Fast Fashion by Grace Trafton, Hidden Treasures by Val Jeffery. It was wonderful to hear Cupertino TV Productions’ name come up again and again and our show clips projected on the screen. We came away with a first place plaque and certificate for Cleaning up the Guadalupe Watershed and four finalists’ certificates. It would have been apt to begin this section with the sentence, ”It was a dark and stormy night…” for the weather that evening in Santa Barbara and the following day can only be described as STORMY, but what’s a bit of weather when you are celebrating for everyone, right?! Knew you would agree :)
Cleaning Up The Guadalupe Watershed
2023 Hometown Awards First Place
2023 W.A.V.E Awards First Place
This is an inspiring show of an individual who decided to do something to take care of his local environmental problem. When Steve Holmes watched a video of a salmon jumping in the Guadalupe Watershed, Santa Clara Valley, CA, he was shocked—there were no salmon here as far as he knew. He realized that all the trash thrown into the river and its creeks had turned the Chinook salmon away from its natural spawning grounds. That was the impetus to start a coalition, called South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition, SBCCC, to restore and revitalize the Guadalupe Watershed. Watch the show, get inspired, and participate in SBCCC’s clean-up efforts.
Producer: Ranjana Mehra
Fast Fashion
2023 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
Worried about the environmental effects of tonnes of garments produced in the name of fast fashion? Wearing the right clothes makes us feel more attractive, confident, empowered, and boosts our self-esteem. We want to participate in wearing some of the fabulous fashions we see on the Hollywood red carpet for a fraction of the price. Fast fashion makes this possible. BUT, there’s a darker side. The clothing industry has a disastrous impact on our environment. It's second only to the oil industry as a global polluter as millions of tons of clothing end up in landfills each year. Watch this show to learn how to combat this problem and do your part to help save our planet.
Producer: Grace Trafton
Christmas All The Way
2023 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
Enjoy this potpourri of shows from Christmasses past. This will make you nostalgic and long for those holidays spent watching our favorite Christmas programs! Make yourself a warm cup of eggnog, pop some popcorn and enjoy this warm walk down memory lane.
Producer: Adek Hanukai and CTVP
Community Comes Together For a Park Project
2023 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
This is the story of how a park project—a labyrinth—became a feature of a park in San Jose, CA. It all began when the city of San Jose sought input from residents for certain projects in their neighborhoods. Pat Richards, a resident of San Jose, applied for a labyrinth to be built in her neighborhood park. The rest as they say is history. Watch this program for how a community got together to first get something for their neighborhood and later embrace the project—the labyrinth—to walk, hangout with friends and family, and meditate.
Producer: Ranjana Mehra
Hidden Treasures
2023 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
This program was a Public Service Announcement for Hidden Treasures 2022 Fundraising Event which benefit the Stay Active Fund. The Fund offsets the cost of Cupertino Senior Center membership and classes for seniors to maintain an active lifestyle. Donated items were accepted at the Center starting August 15th until mid-October. Event Date for this event was: Oct/27/2022.
Producer: Val Jeffery
WAVE Awards 2022
I Sing Through The Guitar
2022 W.A.V.E Awards First Place
We were not surprised when this show, full of beautiful music, won first place at the 2022 W.A.V.E Awards held in San Jose, CA. Watch the accomplished musician and guitarist Doug Young discuss art, music, and personal experiences, in this show, all mixed with wonderful performances.
Producer: Adek Hanukai
Hello, I Need a Money Coach
2022 W.A.V.E Awards First Place
We all need teachers/coaches/mentors of all kinds in our lives. We come to them when we are at the crossroads and feel that our knowledge and experience are limited in solving problems or making critical decisions. Tune into this A first place WAVE Award Winner in the Educational Access category to tap into this show that’s full of guidance and advice we all need in our lives.
Producer: Adek Hanukai
Journey Back in Time
2022 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
This program chronicles the story of the courage and desperate survival of a family of devout Catholics who sought freedom of religion and educational opportunity in a land far away from their home. They ventured out through rugged terrain to an unknown territory to fulfill their dream. They worked hard and embraced all the challenges that came their way. The land they found in California — Sunnyvale — has grown from a farming community once described as Valley of Heart’s Delight and City of Destiny to the modern ethnically diverse city now known as the heart of Silicon Valley.
Producer: Amy Reimann
Valentina
2022 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
This program is a conversation with an accomplished Italian American designer, author, and TV producer, Valentina Cirasola, about art, beauty, design, different tastes in design, and her long career both in Italy and the USA. Valentina also talks about her books (Red, The Road to Top of the Word, Sins of a Queen, Naked Lemons) and TV productions.
Producer: Adek Hanukai
WAVE Awards 2021
The Magic of Making Magic
2021 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
It would be very hard to find someone who doesn’t enjoy a good magic act. But why are people still so drawn to it? This program tries to find out. Tune in to get drawn into the age-old pull of magic
Producer: Adek Hanukai
WAVE Awards 2020
Art in the Air
2020 W.A.V.E Awards First Place
This program, a first place winner, showcases the beautiful art of arial dance and a very engaging conversation from the artist Anna Yanushkevich. Don’t miss it!
Producer: Adek Hanukai
Spartan Robotics — We are 971
2020 W.A.V.E Awards First Place
At a local high school in Mountain View, California enthusiastic students design and build robots whilst learning the art of communication and teamwork. This program gives you a front-row seat to the buzzing action.
Producers: Val Jeffery and Jerry Oliver
Robots and Their Young Masters
2020 W.A.V.E Awards Finalist
First Robotics is an international program teaching high school students to design and build competition robots. The program prepares young people for the future. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is the world's leading youth-serving nonprofit advancing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Watch this 2020 W.A.V.E. finalist to learn all about it.
Producers: Jerry Oliver and Val Jeffery
HOMETOWN AWARDS
The Alliance for Community Media (ACM) covers the whole of the United States of America and the HOMETOWN Awards recognize outstanding programs broadcast through local Community Media stations throughout the country. One program is selected from each category and division. In addition, an Honorable Mention is sometimes given if there is a close tie to any winner. The winners of this prestigious award are presented plaques at the ACM Annual Conference which takes place each year at different locations. For more information visit: Alliance for Community Media
HOMETOWN Award Shows
Volunteering – The Gift of Giving
This was a program that nearly did not get made! After planning our participation in the City of Cupertino Volunteer Fair, an emergency in the UK had me leaving the day before. With the help of Jerry Oliver who took care of all the location videoing and my lovely husband, Gordon who took over my responsibilities for the day and with the help of the Better Part team, none missed me. However, for a program, I was short my interviews so Community Outreach Specialist, Colleen Lettire came to the rescue on my return giving me a studio interview. Perseverance pays off and the gift of giving is the most generous gift that we can give…
Producers: Val Jeffery and Jerry Oliver
Alzheimer’s: Caring for Pat
A journey through the cruel world of dementia, through a caregiver’s eyes, that inspired a loving husband to become an advocate for dementia awareness. This is the story of caregiver Michael Sullivan that spanned 10 years. Michael’s wish was to give caregivers in any community anywhere the tools to help them cope. You will find this program useful whether you are a caregiver to a loved one with dementia or if you know someone who is and want to assist through the challenges they face.
On the day that Michael passed away peacefully I was at his side. I found out later the same day that we had won the HOMETOWN award. He never knew. His work lives on.
Producer: Val Jeffery
Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley
Habitat for Humanity creates long-lasting and positive change to the lives of families in need in Santa Clara County. Owning a home is the American dream but out of reach for most low-income families. This program aired in 2010 when Habitat for Humanity Silicon Valley celebrated their achievement in dedicating their 50th home.
Producer: Val Jeffery
List of Awards