2021 Champion of Public Broadcasting Awards
The Champion of Public Broadcasting Award is given to political leaders and other individuals who safeguard the ability of local public television stations to provide education, public safety and civic leadership services to their communities.
Governor Eric Holcomb (R-IN)
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the Champion of Public Broadcasting Award to Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, in recognition of his support for Indiana public television stations’ initiative to provide remote learning services to students without broadband access.
“With Governor Holcomb’s early investment in public television’s datacasting work, nearly 11,000 Hoosier students without broadband access will soon be connected to essential learning resources, using a portion of our broadcast spectrum as an education lifeline,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS.
“More recently, Governor Holcomb expanded the State’s investment in educational datacasting to a statewide scale, and Indiana’s public television stations will ultimately reach the more than 84,000 Indiana students who cannot access the internet.
“Governor Holcomb has been an essential partner in helping Indiana public television stations rise to the challenge of educating Hoosier children during the coronavirus pandemic, and ensuring that standards-based, curriculum-aligned digital educational content will be available to all beyond this crisis. He has richly earned the 2021 Champion of Public Broadcasting Award.”
2021 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award
The Brugger Award is named in honor of the longest-serving president of America's Public Television Stations, who led the organization from 1987 to 2000.
David Steward II - Nine PBS in St. Louis, Missouri
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award to David Steward II, Immediate Past Board Chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis, Missouri.
Since joining the APTS Board in 2019, Steward has played a critical role in building bipartisan support for federal funding for public media. Steward II received this award in recognition of his efforts to increase public media funding by a total of $30 million over the last two years – the first increase after a decade of level funding.
“Dave Steward is an extraordinarily effective lay leader of public broadcasting, both at the national and local levels,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS, “and his voluntary efforts in support of our work perfectly capture the spirit of the Brugger Award.. He is a relentless and eloquent champion, whether with the chairman of our Appropriations subcommittee, his network of business leaders, or his neighbors in St. Louis. We are immensely grateful for his generous investment of time, energy and towering reputation on our behalf, and we are honored to present the David J. Brugger Award to David Steward II.”
2021 Pillar of Public Service Award
Andrew Russell, President and CEO of PBS SoCal and KCET in Los Angeles, California
America's Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the Pillar of Public Service Award to Andrew Russell, President and CEO of PBS SoCal and KCET in Los Angeles, California. This award recognizes the contribution of an extraordinary leader and innovator in one or more of public television's three essential public service missions: education, public safety and civic leadership.
When schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic last year, PBS SoCal and KCET immediately partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second largest district, to launch the At-Home Learning Initiative, a free educational resource both on-air and online, reaching 700,000 suddenly homebound students. This collaboration that included KQED in the San Francisco Bay Area combined the rich content and expertise of public television with the instructional expertise of LAUSD. Families, educators and students were provided with an engaging daily educational TV schedule targeted to Pre-K through the 12th grade students that featured original, high-quality short-form content and corresponding state standards curriculum-approved online resources.
Following the leadership of PBS SoCal and KCET, local public television stations from nearly 100 stations in over 40 states began providing similar remote learning resources to families and school superintendents nationwide to ensure that all students had free access to on-air and online educational programming.
“Over the last year, Andy Russell has pursued public television’s public service mission in education in extraordinary ways under extraordinary circumstances,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “Under Andy’s inspiring leadership, PBS SoCal and KCET immediately built an at-home learning initiative at the very beginning of the pandemic. Working from home and without any financial resources budgeted for addressing a national emergency, Andy and his team stood up a broad range of standards-based, curriculum-aligned educational services to help students, teachers and parents continue the learning process at home. And this critical initiative served as a turnkey service for public television stations across the country.”
“PBS SoCal and KCET are doing what public television stations do best: educating our children and serving our communities. We are all immensely grateful for Andy’s dedication and innovative leadership when our country needed it the most, and I’m honored to present him with the well-deserved 2021 Pillar of Public Service Award."
2021 Excellence in Innovation Award
Anthony Padgett, President and CEO, and Dr. Stephanie Frazier, Vice President for Education, SCETV
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the 2021 Excellence in Innovation Award to South Carolina ETV for its pioneering work in educational datacasting. The award was presented to SCETV president and CEO Anthony Padgett and Vice President for Education Dr. Stephanie Frazier.
“As students were suddenly homebound when schools were forced to close last year, Anthony Padgett, Dr. Frazier and their team at SCETV quickly stepped forward and began working with the South Carolina Department of Education to develop an education datacasting pilot project as a way to deliver educational content to students without broadband access,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations.
“Thanks to Anthony’s and Stephanie’s innovative, dedicated and passionate leadership, educational datacasting is now a reality in South Carolina. And it has the potential to revolutionize the future of education in America for children and educators in rural, low-income and internet desert communities.
“SCETV’s pioneering work in educational datacasting is a national model for public media,” Butler said, “and they are generously sharing their expertise and experience with other station leaders across our system. A parade of public television stations are now following SCETV’s lead and bridging the remote learning gap in a growing number of States. Congratulations to Anthony, Stephanie and their colleagues at SCETV for a job remarkably well done.”
2021 National Advocacy Award
Ron Pisaneschi, General Manager of Idaho Public Television
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the 2021 National Advocacy Award to Ron Pisaneschi, General Manager of Idaho Public Television, for his work in building relationships and support for public broadcasting within the Idaho congressional delegation and State Legislature.
The APTS National Advocacy Award is presented to station leaders who excel in telling the story of their local station’s work in education, public safety and civic leadership, and how federal and State funding make that work possible.
“Ron Pisaneschi is a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, helping to strengthen our ever-growing bipartisan support both in Congress and at the State level,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of APTS. “Ron has been a particularly effective champion of our cause with the Idaho congressional delegation, investing considerable time and energy in educating these leaders about our public service missions of education, public safety and civic leadership, and about the indispensable nature of the federal investment in our work. Ron has also continued to expand Idaho in Session, Idaho Public Television’s gavel-to-gavel service that includes live on-air and online coverage of the Idaho Legislature including the state House and Senate and committee meetings. We are extremely grateful for Ron’s work and are honored to present him with this most well-deserved National Advocacy Award."