by EVAN MATTHEWS
Shorty after its 25th birthday, VCTV is staying in the news.
VCTV has won another 2017 Tuned In Canada Award from the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA), this time in the category of Best Customer Service Story for their coverage of small events in 2016.
This is the second consecutive win for VCTV and its third win overall, as VCTV won the CCSA’s Best Community Channel Programing award ” a different category ” in both 2016 and 2014. The local TV station took home the awards for the program Discover Valemount, which it co-produces with Tourism Valemount.
“We are so pleased that one of our viewers nominated us for this award and incredible grateful all the support from everyone who voted for us,” says VCTV Station Manager Gord Peters.
“This is a team award between VCTV and the community,” he says.
VCTV is the local TV channel broadcast by the Valemount Entertainment Society. The Society also rebroadcasts analog and digital channels to the Valemount community. It is tax-funded.
With the award comes a $1,000 prize, which is passed along to a local non-profit of the station’s choice.
After last year’s win, VCTV donated the funds to the Valemount Quilting Society in a random draw. After deciding the funds could be better used within the Senior Housing Society, the Quilting Society decided to re-donate and topped it up with $500 of its own money. The $1,500 was split evenly between the Seniors Housing Society and Meals on Wheels (a Housing Society program).
Naming the winners
After the CCSA received its competitive field of nominations in March, submissions were sent to a judging panel for evaluation, according to the organization.
Judges ranked the nominations using specific criteria and provided each nomination a final mark out of 100, according to a press release. From there, the shortlist was determined, and then it was placed in the hands of Canadians to determine the winners by electronic and paper voting.
“Seeing our members being recognized and supported by the communities they serve ” that’s what this campaign is all about,” said Jay Thomson, CEO of the CCSA. “More than 15,000 votes were received! This is a direct reflection of the incredible amount of enthusiasm displayed by our shortlisted members… We’re so pleased with the number of people who brought out the vote this year,” he says.
Winners in each category were determined by either the most votes received, or in some categories by the most votes received per capita subscribers.
Since the CCSA is made up of various sized members, this system levels the playing field.
