PITTSFIELD Mass. — Four programs broadcast on Pittsfield Community Television and community radio station WTBR-FM received 2026 Hometown Media Awards from the Alliance for Community Media Foundation.

The awards program was established to honor and promote community media, community radio, and local cable programs that are distributed on Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access cable television channels.  Proceeds go to the ACM Foundation which is exclusively used for facilitating, preserving and promoting education in community media.

All the award-winning programs were broadcast in 2025.  'Pittsfield Proud - Coaching Life with Jerome Edgerton,' a short video feature produced by PCTV staffer Tom Ciaburri, won the award for Educational Profile: Access Center Professional.  The video profiled Pittsfield High School basketball coach Jerome Edgerton's coaching style and personal history. 

WTBR's coverage of the MIAA Final Four Girls' Basketball semifinal from March 10, 2025 won the award for Sports Coverage, Live Competition: Community Radio.  WTBR's Bob Heck traveled to Worcester State University to cover the game on a live radio broadcast, as the MIAA does not permit live television coverage of Final Four games.  It was Heck's call of the game that garnered the award.

Pittsfield Community Television's production services group, ParkSquare Productions, created fundraising and promotional videos for Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires.  The video, 'NPC: Building Better Nonprofits,' co-directed by PCTV staffer Tom Ciaburri and McCaela Donovan, Associate Director of NPC Berkshires, won the award in the category of Fundraising: Access Center Professional.  The video focuses on the efforts made by the Nonprofit Center to support the sustainability of nonprofit organizations in Berkshire County. 

Taconic High School's vocational Multimedia Production & Broadcast program, through which students create video and audio content which is then broadcast on the channels of PCTV and WTBR-FM, won the award for 'Taconic High School's School of Rock,' in the category of Educational Activities: Community Radio.  The series, broadcast on WTBR-FM, features episodes devoted to music that follow certain themes.  The winning episode, from April 14, 2025, focused on the teacher's theme 'Taking a Vacation,' and also the themes of 'Abandonment', 'Love' and 'In Motion'.  The show was produced by Taconic High School students under the supervision of CTE Teacher Jamie Choquette.

Pittsfield Community Television and WTBR-FM are members of the Alliance for Community Media. 

"Every year we review programs that were produced and broadcast on our channels, and consider entering them into this awards festival," said Shawn Serre, Executive Director.  "We're extremely proud of the efforts made by members of our community and our staff, who work hard to create quality programming on both our television channels and radio stations.  And of course, it is always great to get recognition from our industry for this exceptional programming."

Each year, nearly one thousand entries are submitted. These entries, or programs, are submitted and evaluated on several factors resulting in over 100 award winners. A panel of over 100 judges from the industry evaluate the entries. Awards are presented to the most creative programs that address community needs, develop diverse community involvement, challenge conventional commercial television formats, and move viewers to experience television in a different way.

"The Hometown Media Awards celebrate both the excellence of work and the diversity of media that appears on community channels being produced around the country. The ACM Foundation is proud of their achievement and of how they represent their communities in their work," said Mike Wassenaar, President & CEO, Alliance for Community Media.