The Village of Oak Park’s take on TV took top honors from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA).
The Government Programming Awards, presented at the NATOA’s 32nd annual conference held in September in Seattle, honored excellence in broadcast, cable, multimedia and electronic programming produced by local government agencies from across the country.
VOP-TV, the broadcast component of the Village’s public information programs, was judged best in the programming excellence category of organizations with budgets under $250,000.
To enter the category, Media Production Manager Joe Kreml compiled a greatest hits reel showcasing more than a dozen videos produced for VOP-TV and social media in the last year. Content included videos that focused on public health and safety, village government, local businesses and economic development.
The submitted videos represent a cross section of the diverse work that VOP-TV produces throughout the year in Oak Park.
VOP-TV has increasingly focused on its YouTube channel www.youtube.com/vopnews and incorporating videos into the municipal website and Village social media pages, particularly Facebook www.facebook.com/vopnews, which has more than 8,100 fans. The Village YouTube channel currently hosts more than 400 videos that have been viewed nearly 400,000 times.
In addition to original videos about Village government services, the community and its interesting residents, VOP-TV also continues its original mission of ensuring transparency in the local government policymaking process.
Village Board meetings are streamed live and archived for on-demand viewing at www.oak-park.us/boardtv, as well as cablecast on Comcast channel 6 and AT&T channel 99. VOP-TV also streams and archives meetings of the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals on www.oak-park.us/commissiontv.
VOP-TV’s winning video reel was among the more than 900 entries submitted to NATOA by local governments from across the country. This is the fourth time VOP-TV entries have won the top honor from NATOA, which considers this category of special significance because it reflects the variety of superior programming produced throughout the year, rather than honor a single video.
For more information on VOP-TV and the Village’s wide range of public information programs, visit www.oak-park.us/publicinformation.
![Photograph of Media Production Manager Joe Kreml](/sites/default/files/pictures/kreml-w-camera.jpg)
Media Production Manager Joe Kreml