2003 Golden Beacon and Beacon Award Winners Announced
During a gala ceremony the evening of April 1, CTPAA announced the winners of the 2003 Golden Beacon and Beacon Awards, recognizing excellence in cable television public affairs. CTPAA awarded the Golden Beacon, the associationís highest honor, to C-SPAN Networks for C-SPANís Presidential Timeline Giveaway. CTPAA also presented 77 Beacon Awards, representing work by MSOs, cable systems, programming networks and cable associations aimed at the community, customers, education, employees, government or media. The Beacon Awards Ceremony was one of many highlights of CTPAAís annual conference, FORUM 2003: Capitalizing on Cableís Competitive Edge, held March 30 ñ April 2 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel, Washington, DC. Comedy Centralís Ed Helmís was the master of ceremonies for the evening and Phyllis George introduced the 2003 Golden Beacon Finalists and announced the winner.

CTPAA presented the 2003 Golden Beacon, awarded to a public affairs initiative that has made an impact within the cable industry and enhances cableís image nationwide, to C-SPAN Networks for C-SPANís Presidential Timeline Giveaway. In 2002, C-SPAN developed an educational outreach promotion for C-SPAN in the Classroom to highlight its American history resources, increase membership, and to drive home its cable funding message. To attain this goal, C-SPAN created a campaign to distribute a six-foot presidential timeline poster to middle and high school social studies teachers all over the country, free-of-charge. The poster includes the public service careers of all 43 U.S. presidents, major events in U.S. history, and the message that C-SPAN is created by cable and offered as a public service. This campaign was launched October 1, and ran through December 31. C-SPAN received requests for timelines from more than 60,000 educators and is in the process of distributing the posters. The two other initiatives nominated for the 2003 Golden Beacon Award were Lifetime Televisionís Our Lifetime Commitment: Stop Violence Against Women and MTVís Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself. The 2002 Golden Beacon was awarded to Comcast Corporation for its Comcast Cares Day 2001.

In addition to the Beacon Awards, a variety of special awards were presented throughout the ceremony. The ESPN Good Sports Award, given annually to a project that generates outstanding community involvement through education and athletics, went to Cox Communications New England for its Celebrating Champions. This public affairs program, a live, interactive teleconference, was produced by Cox Communications and Special Olympics Rhode Island to help educate high school students and the community about the Special Olympics Experience and all its positive messages while creating compelling local programming and positive press for Cox 3. MTV received the Joel A. Berger Award, that honors a project achieving exceptional results in the area of AIDS awareness, for its campaign Fight For Your Rights: Protect Yourself. Developed in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, and building off a five-year on-air and online commitment to sexual health, MTVís campaign focuses primarily on HIV/AIDS, other STDs, and unintended pregnancy. The campaign includes original programming, public service messages, an extensive Web site, a toll-free hotline, an online and printed guide, local forums, and opportunities for young people to get involved in their communities.

Each year, CTPAAís Board of Directors selects Presidentís Award recipients, honoring individuals for the development and implementation of public affairs initiatives within their own companies and throughout the cable industry. The 2003 recipients were Henry Schleiff, Chairman and CEO of Court TV, and Michael S. Willner, Vice Chairman and CEO, Insight Communications.

CTPAA received 422 Beacon entries this year ñ evidence of the strong and continuing commitment by the cable industry to public affairs. Finalists and winners were selected after an extensive two-phase judging process in Washington, D.C., at the NCTA headquarters in January.

 ABC Cable Networks to Launch Learning Together! Public Affairs Initiative
ABC Cable Networks Group will rollout an expansive, portfolio-wide public affairs initiative this spring called "Learning Together!" to encourage family involvement to improve childrenís learning and personal growth through increased family involvement.

"Learning Together!" encompasses five individual campaigns: ABC Familyís One-on-One, Disney Channelís Imagineer That! and Stanleyís Story Time Adventure from Playhouse Disney, SOAPnetís Talk It Over Soaps, and Toon Disneyís Passport to Reading.

ABC Cable Network Groups met with nonprofit groups, government agencies, cable affiliates and industry associations to gain input on how to develop the five distinct public affairs programs of Learning Together! Leveraging the resources of ABC Cable Networks Groupís four wholly-owned channels ñ ABC Family, Disney Channel, SOAPnet and Toon Disney ñ as well as DisneyHAND, the worldwide outreach organization for The Walt Disney Company, the five individual programs under the "Learning Together!" umbrella will launch in partnership with affiliates around the country. Each program is designed to take place at a specific time throughout the year.

• ABC Familyís One-on-One is a mentoring program designed to help girls realize their full potential and address the complex life issues that arise during adolescence. The network is in discussions with the national nonprofit youth group Girls Inc., to collaborate on this program, which will encourage high school students to mentor middle school students. ABC Familyís One-on-One is set to launch in January 2004.

• Disney Channelís Imagineer That! is designed to inspire childrenís creativity through special hands-on workshops hosted either live, via broadband or pre-taped by a Walt Disney Company Imagineer to teach kids how to tap into their own creativity. Launching in Fall 2003, the program also includes local events for teachers and parents.

• Stanleyís Story Time Adventure, presented by Disney Channelís Playhouse Disney, will engage the minds and imaginations of preschoolers in local communities through storytelling and book donation events. Partnering with First Book, a national non-profit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books, Stanleyís Story Time Adventure will launch in the summer of 2003.

• SOAPnetís Talk it Over Soaps will launch this spring with local forums for parents and teens. Developed in conjunction with the American Counseling Association, these local events will encourage open communication between parents and teenagers about important and sensitive issues such as teen pregnancy, sexuality, divorce and drug abuse and drinking and driving.

• Toon Disneyís Passport to Reading is a summer reading and rewards program. The program promotes and encourages a shared love of books between adults and children.

Taggable public service announcements that encourage parental involvement in learning, provide tips on getting involved and highlight programs that offer opportunities for involvement will be created to support each of the five "Learning Together!" programs. Additionally, ABC Cable Networks Group has created co-branded materials and community "tool kits" including customizable templates, check lists and recourses to assist local affiliates in implementing the campaign in their markets. For more information, contact.

 International Channel Networks to Launch Third Annual We the People Campaign in September
International Channel Networks announced plans for its third annual We the People campaign at FORUM 2003. Launched in 2001, the campaign showcases the successes and contributions of immigrants in America, details the experience of becoming a United States citizen and offers resources for those going through the naturalization process. The campaign includes a series of activities that will kick off in September.

As part of its We the People campaign, International Channel will host a series of local community events in key markets across the country, recognize multicultural community leaders with its Vision in America awards, make donations to local community organizations on behalf of the award winners and present special showings of the "In America" series. "In America" is International Channelís original documentary series of programs that trace the true stories of Chinese, Indian, Russian, Vietnamese and Arab immigrants who have settled in the United States. The programs will also air extensively on International Channel during the months of September and October.

As part of the ongoing We the People project, International Channel also gathers immigrant stories and questions via its Web site and provides online connections to resources that can assist immigrants in the process of becoming United States citizens. In the first two years of the We the People campaign, International Channel Networks has bestowed 35 Vision in America Awards, which are given to civic and community leaders based on their contributions and support of multicultural communities. Additionally, International Channel has contributed more than $14,000 to local organizations as part of the We the People campaign. For more information on this public affairs initiative, contact Teresa Wiedel, Executive Director of Communications for International Channel Networks, at teresa.wiedel@i-channel.com or 303-268-5459.

 Court TV Honors Everyday Heroes
On April 2, Court TV presented its annual Everyday Heroes awards during a reception in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Room in the U.S. Capitol. Court TVís Everyday Heroes Initiative is an ongoing effort that seeks to honor local heroes who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their work or their daily lives demonstrating acts of bravery and courage to keep us safe. TV personality and former Miss America Phyllis George hosted the event. The previous evening, Court TV won a 2003 Beacon Award for its Everyday Heroes Initiative.

Nominated by their local cable companies, the Everyday Heroes included: