Cincinnati State faculty member wins national video award

February 19, 2020

A video produced and shot by Professor Christian Appleby, a faculty member in the Audio/Video Production (AVP) program, is the winner of a National Educational Television Award for 2019 in the category Marketing/Communication: Promotion.

NETA awards are presented by the National Educational Television Association to recognize excellence in work by public broadcasters related to education, community engagement, marketing/communications, and other broadcast media content.

The 2-minute video, titled “A Mom’s Story,” was commissioned by local PBS station CET (ThinkTV) in 2018.

You can view the video at https://watch.cetconnect.org/video/finding-your-own-path-moms-story-short-version-y1xnmi.

“A Mom’s Story” is an interview with a mother who expected her son to attend a 4-year university to study business, but then discovered he loved welding and manufacturing (as seen in the image from the video, at right).

She discusses her journey to realizing that her son’s path is not hers, and that his choice to study welding can still lead to a great career.
Christian said two Cincinnati State AVP graduates, Jeremy Graham and Amanda Teemley, helped film the interview. Former Cincinnati State welding instructor Mark Willis contributed to the video also.
The award-winning video will be included in the “Best of American Graduate” compilation that will be shown at the APTS (America’s Public Television Stations) Public Media Summit, taking place Feb. 24-26, 2020, in Washington, DC.

This event is “the largest annual gathering of public broadcasting general managers and community leaders who come together to explore issues that are vital to the future and mission of public service media.”

“A Mom’s Story” was part of “The American Graduate: Getting to Work” initiative sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This video series is a long-term commitment to help young people succeed in school, career, and life.

Content produced and distributed by public broadcasting stations and local partners through this initiative helps “shine a light on pathways to graduation and successful student outcomes.”

Gloria Skurski, the Chief Education Officer for ThinkTV and executive producer of the video, said “A Mom’s Story” has been broadcast by PBS stations nationwide, from Alaska to Florida.

Christian said, “Gloria told me the audience cheered when our win was announced at the NETA Awards event.”

Christian has used portions of his summers for the past three years to produce “A Mom’s Story” and other, similar videos for CET.