Special Recognition Award

For the countless hours volunteered in support of Community Media.

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About the Special Recognition Award

The Special Recognition Award is presented for someones outstanding contributions to the community media industry. Most ACM awards are annual, but this award appears infrequently, when the Awards Committee wishes to recognize someone for their honorable work supporting community media.

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2026 Winner: Jay April from Akaku Maui Community Media

 

Fifty years ago I saw a Sony Portapak and had to have one. A few months later I shot SEABROOK 1977, with several NFLCPers. It was the first video documentary on Civil Disobedience and Nuclear Power and helped ignite a worldwide anti-nuclear movement. I crashed a meeting at NYU where some college kids led by George were birthing the National Football League of Cable People or some such, and they let me hang out. The rest is history. 

Jump started public access in Connecticut. Drafted the first state law in the nation to protect it. Became a national cable consultant, moved on to start E! Entertainment, specialized in Guerrilla TV for The 90’s on PBS, and CNN’s Environmental Unit. Scored awards for Best Super Bowl spot of 1995 and Best Film in Hawaii. Now running the public access clown car in the nation’s smallest market.

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Previous Winners

2026 - Jay April, Akaku Maui Community Media
2022 - Joseph Van Eaton 
2017 – Senator Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin U.S. Senator
2016 – Tillman Lay and James Horwood, Spiegel McDiarmid, Washington DC
2015 – Roger Hernandez, California Assemblymember