Funding, training and awards in public broadcasting

The three pubradio stations that produce the “most outstanding and compelling” listener testimonials using CPB’s “My Source” theme will receive prizes of up to $3,000. June 20 is the entry deadline for the contest , which will be managed for CPB by pubradio’s Development Exchange Inc. Producer of the top spot will be flown to DEI’s Public Radio Development and Marketing Conference in Orlando, July 17-19. Guidelines are online.

WGBH Lab is accepting applications for Filmmakers-in-Residence slots. June 15 is the deadline for online entries. Selected producers will receive a stipend, working space in WGBH’s Boston home, video editing equipment, editorial guidance and access to the station’s staff. Details are online. The station’s first filmmaker in residence, Katrina Browne, used her time at WGBH to work on “Traces of the Trade,” about her unsettling discovery that her family long ago was deeply involved in slave trading. The doc opens this summer’s season of P.O.V. in June.

IMA has scheduled pubcasting's major web-oriented meeting for Atlanta next year. Public Media 2009 conference will run Feb. 19-21, 2009, following preconference sessions for station chief execs, Feb. 17-18, and techies and revenue-minded folk, Feb. 18, all at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. Material from the February 2008 conference is on IMA's site.

June 30 is the entry deadline for the Association for International Broadcasting awards. AIB's Media Excellence Awards go to cross-border broadcasting producers and marketers in radio, TV and other media. AIB published entry guidelines in a PDF. Winners will be announced Nov. 12 in London.

Videos of popular speeches from WNET's Teaching & Learning Celebration are posted online. Primatologist Jane Goodall and ocean adventurer Jean-Michel Cousteau 's talks will remain online until May 14. See also Current's article about the third annual teachers' event organized by WNET/WLIW in New York.

The Beyond Broadcast conference, a major annual forum about public media, focuses on mapping and visualization and moves to D.C. this summer. American University’s Center for Social Media is planning the event for June 17 in collaboration with the Berkman Center at Harvard (its original host) and numerous other planning partners. The theme, Mapping Public Media, covers the shifting forms, functions and fiscal strategies of public media projects, as well as participatory geo-mapping tools such as Google Earth. Session topics include the varieties of public media, outreach to engage specific populations, business models. Registration fees: $100, early-bird discount until April 30; $125 thereafter; $50 for students. A limited number of scholarships are available to cover attendance costs. Info online at beyondbroadcast.net. More about the Center for Social Media at www. centerforsocialmedia. org.

Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies is offering two brief summer institutes in audio documentary work. John Biewen, a former correspondent for American RadioWorks, joined by Duke and visiting faculty, will lead the "Hearing Is Believing I” course, July 13-19, and "Hearing Is Believing II," Aug. 11-16, in Durham, N.C. Register early; space is limited. More info online. Fee per course: $775. Discounts will be available to members of the Association of Independents in Radio.

The Third Coast Festival seeks submissions to its 2008 Radio Ephemera audio challenge, an open call for short audio stories (2:30 - 3 minutes) inspired by two of five pre-selected books. Entries also must include “the voice of a stranger.” The competition is a collaboration of TCF and the Prelinger Library of San Francisco. Producers of four winning submissions will be chosen to attend the Third Coast Audio Festival, Oct. 9 - 11 in Evanston, Ill. Other works will be played on TCF’s weekly show Re:sound and/or at listening events. All submissions will be archived online at thirdcoastfestival.org. Window for submissions opened April 1 and closes at midnight, Aug. 3. (Closing date in April previously was posted in error by Current.) For guidelines and instructions on submitting work, click here.

PRADO is seeking nominations for station-based Development Professional of the Year. Entry deadline: May 16, midnight, Pacific Time. The Public Radio Association of Development Officers will announce the recipient at the Public Radio Development and Marketing Conference, July 17-19 in Orlando, Fla. Guidelines are on PRADO's website.

Production partnerships between stations and independent producers can apply for ITVS aid. May 30 is the deadline for LINCS grants up to $100,000 from the Independent Television Service. Guidelines. ITVS has also issued its Open Call for indies' proposals for funding to complete pubTV programs. Deadline: July 18. Guidelines

The conference for public radio and other Triple A music stations moves to Philadelphia this spring. Triple A Radio's Eighth Annual NON-COMMvention will be held May 28-31 in the studios and performance cafe of WXPN and its World Café Live venue, and at the Hilton at Penn. Showcase performances are scheduled each night. Attendees from radio stations (noncommercial or not) pay $85 to register; others pay $185. See the early details. You can preregister online. Questions: Tess Coffey, conference manager, 215-898-0628.

Prizes of up to $10,000 are offered in J-Lab's Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism. Entry deadline: June 11. The judges will look for "novel efforts that seize and create opportunities to involve citizens in public issues and supply entry points that invite their participation or spark their imagination." Web.

There are two more Morning Edition Graduate School workshops this year. NPR’s Local News Initiative will offer workshops Aug. 23 in Chicago (apply by July 18), and Nov. 15 in Austin, Texas (apply by Oct. 3). The workshops cover newscasts, reporting, hosting, promotion and station breaks, among other elements of the daypart around Morning Edition. The workshops were developed by Peter Dominowski, Tim Emmons and Scott Williams of Strategic Programming Partners (SPP) with help from Tanya Ott of Public Radio News Directors Inc. and Marlene Schneider of Development Exchange Inc. Radio Research Consortium also assisted with the project. More on LNI's website.

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Updated May 1, 2008
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