2023 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.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the Champion of Public Broadcasting Award to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
Senator Schumer has been central to the successful efforts to increase public media funding in each of the past four appropriations cycles, by a total of $90 million, and his support was essential to public media securing $250 million in emergency COVID relief funding that helped public television stations survive the severe economic downturn that accompanied the COVID pandemic.
“Leader Schumer has been a long-time friend of public broadcasting, and he has championed our work for decades,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “America’s public television stations are immensely grateful his support and leadership over the years, and especially for his central role in securing significant increases for public media funding – our first in over a decade.
“The Senator’s advocacy on our behalf was especially important in sustaining public television stations during the pandemic, when stations’ financial support fell sharply even while we stood up emergency remote learning services in all 50 States for students whose schools had suddenly shut down. This relief funding also helped our stations enhance live-saving public safety communications during those challenging months and provide critical direct connections between government officials and their constituents for authoritative information on the disease and best practices for dealing with it.
“Senator Schumer and most of his colleagues in the Congress understand that public television stations have a very different mission than others in the media world,” Butler said. “While we’re very proud of the educational programming our stations and PBS provide the American people, these essential local public services are the heart of our work, and they fully deserve the federal investment that has been the foundation of our financing for more than 50 years, through both Democratic and Republican Administrations and congressional majorities.”
Congressman Mark Amodei (R-NV)
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the Champion of Public Broadcasting Award to Congressman Mark Amodei (R-NV).
As co-chair of the Public Broadcasting Caucus and a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Congressman Amodei has been a stalwart supporter of public media funding over many years. He also strongly advocated for local public broadcasters during the spectrum auction and repacking process.
“It’s a great honor to present this award, our highest, to Congressman Amodei for all the work he has done on our behalf over the years,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “He understands how important public television is to rural America, how essential our services in education, public safety and civic leadership are to people everywhere, and how vital the federal appropriation for public broadcasting is to making these services available to everyone, every day for free.
“We are profoundly grateful for the bipartisan support for our work which Congressman Amodei symbolizes and encourages.”
Domenic Ruscio, Long-time Public Broadcasting Advocate
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented its Champion of Public Broadcasting Award to Domenic Ruscio, a long-time advocate who recently retired.
As a budget official of the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Ruscio delivered the first federal check for $5 million to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) in 1969. From his service on the Senate Appropriations Committee staff, to his successful advocacy for our federal funding over the past 25 years as a consultant to APTS, Ruscio’s unwavering engagement has significantly strengthened the public media system. This exceptional work culminated over the last four years with consecutive increases in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and a cumulative increase of $188 million across all public media programs, resulting in the highest level of federal funding for public broadcasting in history.
“From the moment Dom Ruscio delivered the first federal check to CPB more than fifty years ago, no one has done more, over a longer period of time, to ensure the essential public investment in our work,” said APTS president and CEO Patrick Butler. “His wise counsel, effective advocacy, and personal passion for the mission of public media have been indispensable to our success over the past five decades. It’s my great honor to present him with this most well-deserved 2023 Champion of Public Broadcasting Award.”
2023 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award
The APTS board of trustees created the David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award in honor of its former president and CEO, David Brugger, the longest-serving leader of the organization.
Diana Enzi, WyomingPBS
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the 2023 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award to Diana Enzi, representing WyomingPBS.
Elected to the WyomingPBS Foundation Board of Directors in 2020, Diana Enzi has been a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, both on the national and State levels. In addition to the foundation board, Mrs. Enzi serves on its Outreach and Events Committee and has helped organize screenings of Wyoming PBS programs, generated ideas for such programming, and connected Wyoming PBS with new friends and supporters across the state.
As the wife of the late U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, who was a faithful supporter of public broadcasting and federal funding for local stations for more than two decades, Mrs. Enzi has been, and continues to be, an influential and effective voice highlighting the important role of local public television and the need for continued federal investment in public media. Senator and Mrs. Enzi were partners in life for more than fifty years, from running shoe stores in Gillette to representing Wyoming in the United States Senate.
Mrs. Enzi has also been an active member of the board of the National Job Corps Association, which said upon her retirement in 2021, “Her commitment to education for young people has made a great impact on many students’ lives.”
“Diana Enzi has been a quiet but extraordinarily effective advocate for public broadcasting for decades,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “She marshals her amazing network of friends and admirers in Wyoming for the benefit of Wyoming PBS in countless ways, and she was a beloved ambassador for our work on Capitol Hill with Senators and spouses alike for a quarter of a century. We are deeply indebted to her for advancing bipartisan support for public television over so many years, and we are honored to present the 2023 David J. Brugger Lay Leadership Award to Diana Enzi.”
2023 Pillar of Public Service Award
The Pillar of Public Service 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.
Jonathan Abbott, President Emeritus of GBH in Boston, Massachusetts
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented its 2023 Pillar of Public Service Award to Jonathan Abbott, president emeritus of GBH in Boston, Massachusetts, for his pioneering work in creating innovative educational programming and content for people in Boston and across America.
Under Mr. Abbott’s leadership, GBH created PBS LearningMedia, a rich digital resource platform which helps two million K-12 teachers enhance 40 million students’ education every day with tens of thousands of engaging, interactive learning objects adapted from the best of public television programming and additional resources from the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, NASA, National Science Foundation and more. This service has been widely used throughout the pandemic by students and teachers alike, with a record 20 million users visiting the site during the 2020-2021 school year.
As a trusted leader in educational media for more than 50 years, GBH is the largest producer of PBS content for television and the web. Its programming has ranged from iconic children’s programming such as Molly of Denali, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Martha Speaks, Curious George, Between the Lions, Pinkalicious and Peterrific, and Wild Kratts, to the lifelong learning series including American Experience, Antiques Road Show, Frontline, Masterpiece and NOVA.
"Over the course of a 24-year career at GBH, first as general manager and then as president and CEO, Jon Abbott has made so many extraordinary contributions to public broadcasting that it’s difficult to catalog them all, much less pay adequate tribute to each of them,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “He was a founder of PMM, the cloud-based content distribution and master control initiative now serving dozens of public television stations and tens of millions of households. He was a founder of the Contributor Development Partnership, which has helped revolutionize fundraising for public television stations. He was a creator of the WORLD and CREATE channels that provide rich public affairs and how-to programming content to stations nationwide. With the Library of Congress, he launched the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, digitizing and preserving decades of public media content. And the list of such accomplishments runs on and on.
“But perhaps the most important legacy of Jon Abbott’s legendary career is his leadership in education, which has truly revolutionized public television’s partnership with educators, students and lifelong learners across America. PBS LearningMedia has transformed classroom learning in elementary and secondary schools. The children’s programming GBH has produced under Jon’s direction has helped millions of our youngest viewers get ready to learn in school and succeed in life. And learners of every age have enriched their lives with some of the finest history, science and public affairs programming on television, all thanks to Jon Abbott and his talented colleagues at GBH.
“He has set a standard of public service to which everyone in public television should aspire, and America’s Public Television Stations are honored to present Jonathan Abbott with the 2023 Pillar of Public Service Award.”
2023 Excellence in Innovation Award
Dolores Fernandez Alonso, President and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami, Florida
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the 2023 Excellence in Innovation Award to Dolores Fernandez Alonso, President and CEO of South Florida PBS in Miami, Florida, for her groundbreaking leadership in the creation and ongoing success of the Health Channel.
Created by South Florida PBS in 2018, the Health Channel is the first TV channel of its kind, connecting viewers with medical and well-being specialists in real time and promoting healthier lifestyle options. In partnership with local organizations including Baptist Health South Florida and Miami’s Community News, the service provides the latest health information to enable viewers to better manage their own health. To complement the 24/7 broadcast and live interactions with medical and well-being specialists, the Health Channel offers a robust companion digital platform that provides access to specialized services.
“Under Dolores’s innovative, dedicated and passionate leadership, South Florida PBS and the Health Channel are offering their community – and Americans across the country - a wealth of trusted information on everything from the coronavirus to mental health and medical breakthroughs to help people live healthier lives,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “This is truly pioneering work, and it’s one more excellent example of the power of public television to invent a better future for all of us.”
2023 National Advocacy Award
Jack Williams, Governmental Relations Manager at Alabama Public Television
America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) presented the 2023 National Advocacy Award to Jack Williams, Governmental Relations Manager at Alabama Public Television, for his work in building relationships and support for public broadcasting within the Alabama 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.
“Jack Williams is a tireless advocate for public broadcasting, helping to strengthen our ever-growing bipartisan support both in Congress and throughout the State of Alabama,” said Patrick Butler, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations. “Jack has been an extraordinarily effective champion of our cause with the Alabama 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.
“Jack's passionate and tireless outreach over the last year was particularly important in securing support from a bipartisan majority of the Alabama House Members on our annual public media funding letter for FY 2023. Additionally, Jack was instrumental in securing essential State funding to help Alabama Pubic Television convert to ATSC 3. We are extremely grateful for Jack’s work and are honored to present him with this most well-deserved 2023 National Advocacy Award.”