We’ve been nominated for a Shorty Award for Best Multicultural Community Engagement! The awards honor the best in social media.

Our campaign began with a simple idea: Everyone has a story….

And so, we asked ourselves: What if we turned to PBS audiences to help celebrate American Heritage Months through their personal stories and experiences? And not solely through PBS films.

Building on this idea, PBS developed a User Generated Content (UGC) campaign with weekly themes and calls-to-action (CTAs) to inspire audiences to share a memory or piece of history through a picture or video via their social networks, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. It was also important to us that the campaign not be limited to one month alone, and so we thought carefully about unique hashtags that could have life beyond Black, Asian American, Hispanic and Native American Heritage Months: #MyBlackHistory, #MyAPALife, #MiHistoria and #NativeInspired.

Read more about the nomination here ^[1]!

The 2017 Shorty Awards ^[2] will be announced in New York on Sunday, April 23rd.

Today officially kicks off the fifth annual, Webby-nominated PBS Online Film Festival ^[3]. From now through July 29th, 25 films will be shown via PBS and station digital platforms, such as PBS.org, YouTube, and PBS social media channels.The film festival will also be made available via the PBS app, which is available for Apple TV, iOS, Android, Roku, and FireTV.

Each member of NMC has a film featured in this year’s program. They are as follows:

Center for Asian American Media (CAAM): Home is a Hotel ^[4]

Huan Di and her daughter Jessica live in an 8ft x 10ft room with no kitchen or bathroom. Recent immigrants from China, they navigate a new language and culture while living in Single Room Occupancy Hotels, a vital but fast disappearing housing option for San Francisco’s working class.

Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB): Gold Star ^[5]

When Iliana dedicates a love song to her teacher during an elementary school talent show, the ensuing homophobic reactions from school officials and her mother taint the experience. Iliana’s disappointment escalates when she overhears her mother Terry accusing her queer best friend Chela of influencing Iliana’s actions. Despite the disastrous evening, Iliana finds solace and faith with friends.

National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC): Teachers ^[6]

Ms. Faith Mayfield is a driven, but also exhausted, high school social studies teacher. She has one student in particular, Ellie Thompson, who’s taken the 10th grade two times already. Unless Ellie excels on the final exam, she will have to repeat 10th grade again. Unnerved by that idea, Mayfield confronts Ellie, attempting to inspire passion and motivation in her education but she soon discovers Ellie’s struggles are a direct result of her family’s dire financial situation, and that Ellie is flirting with the idea of dropping out of high school altogether to work full-time.

Pacific Islanders in Communication (PIC): Ma ^[7]

Despite how much time we spend with them, it’s easy to overlook everything our parents and grandparents do for us. In the case of “Ma,” Director Nikki Si’ulepa explores the life of a Samoan grandmother who feels neglected by her family. As a result, we see her turn to a surprising group of confidants for comfort. In this film, humor and sadness meet to reveal the emotional, true story of Ma.

Vision Maker Media (VMM): The Medicine Game 2: 4 Brothers 1 Dream ^[8]

Miles Thompson tells the story of growing up in the shadow of three lacrosse star brother and how the struggle of proving the doubters wrong overcoming weight issues pushed him to the top of the lacrosse world. We follow Miles training with his brothers on the Onondaga Nation to playing in his first professional lacrosse game in Minneapolis.

Viewers are encouraged to vote by going to pbs.org/filmfestival ^[9], or by sharing their favorite films on Facebook or Twitter using #PBSolff ^[10] and the name of the film. The film with the most votes at the end of the festival will receive the PBS People’s Choice Awards.

—Lauren Lola

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Latino Public Broadcasting Public Media Content Fund – Call for Proposals

Deadline: Monday, June 6, 2016 at 5 PM

All applications must be submitted online at www.pmcf.submittable.com/submit ^[12].

For the Public Media Content Fund Guidelines, please visit: http://lpbp.org/2014-public-media-content-fund-guidelines/ ^[13].

For Public Media Content Fund Guidelines FAQ’s, please visit: http://lpbp.org/funding-faq/ ^[14].

The Public Media Content Fund is an open invitation to independent producers to submit proposals for a program, limited series or short web-based digital video (no longer than 20 minutes, for distribution on PBS.org or another public media web platform) on any subject that relates to or is representative of Latino Americans that is appropriate for public television and/or one of its platforms. LPB funding will average between $5,000 and $100,000 for programs of most genres, including documentary, narrative, performance, mixed genre or new media. LPB will give priority consideration to funding projects at the production and post-production stage.

Programs should bring new audiences to public media and have national relevance presenting a range of subjects, issues and viewpoints that complement and challenge existing public media offerings. These programs should also aim to meet the current content priorities of PBS that include but are not limited to: History, Arts, Drama, Science, News and Public Affairs and/or programs that support CPB’s American Graduate by raising awareness of all facets of the high school dropout crisis.

Programs should provide strong storytelling techniques that give voice to the diverse Latino community on public media. While proposals can take creative risks, selected projects must ultimately appeal to a wide variety of television and public media audiences. Projects that reflect personal or individual experience should have universal appeal and provide a lens to Latino history, culture and issues.

“25 in 25″ celebrates the National Minority Consortia (NMC), a collective of five separate and distinct organizations who reflect America’s diversity by creating an awareness of the value of public media among communities.

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Maria Hinojosa

The National Minority Consortia ^[25] (NMC) – comprised of Latino Public Broadcasting ^[26], The Center for Asian American Media ^[27], Pacific Islanders in Communications ^[28], National Black Programming Consortium ^[29], and Vision Maker Media ^[30] – will co-present the new PBS documentary series AMERICA BY THE NUMBERS WITH MARIA HINOJOSA launching Thursday, October 2^nd on WORLD Channel, and on PBS beginning Saturday, October 4.

Read the Full Press Release ^[24]

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(Left to right ) Shirley K. Sneve, Vision Maker Media; Leanne Ferrer, Pacific Islanders in Communications; Leslie Fields-Cruz, National Black Programming Consortium; Sandie Pedlow, Latino Public Broadcasting; Steven Gong, Center for Asian American Media; Liz Cheng, WORLD; Michael Isip, KQED; Sally Jo Fifer, ITVS; Simon Kilmurry, POV; Ben Feng Torres. Photo by Georgiana Lee.

Every year, PBS holds its Annual Meeting as the premiere gathering of public television professionals and decision makers representing PBS stations and content providers. This year, the 2014 PBS Annual Meeting took place in San Francisco, CA from May 12 – 15, 2014 and offered a glimpse into the programming that is set to air on PBS.

Check out the video clips presented to stations at the PBS Annual Meeting by the five National Minority Consortia ^[32].

Read more about the PBS Annual Meeting from National Minority Consortia Members:

Blog post by CAAM about the PBS Annual Meeting ^[33]

Blog post by LPB about the PBS Annual Meeting ^[34]

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A People’s Choice award was given to the NAPT short film Horse You See, which gained the most votes in the first PBS Online Film Festival. The festival showcased twenty award-winning short films with a wide array of styles, perspectives and subject matter.

Visitors voted for their favorite film by “liking” it either on the Festival’s page on PBS.org or the PBS YouTube channel. The festival featured short films produced by a number of public broadcasting organizations including Independent Television Service (ITVS), POV and the National Minority Consortia (NMC)–Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC), National Black Programming Consortium (NPBC), Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB) and Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. (NAPT).

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Jessica Torres at KLRN speaking on the Importance of Public Broadcasting

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting ^[37] (CPB) supported the innovative My Source project and in spite of the many obstacles, the NMC has delivered a set of high quality promotional materials that will be used in stations across the country.  All of the spots are available for viewing ^[38] along with the accompanying print advertisements ^[39].  Transcripts ^[40] and lists of programs mentioned ^[41] in the spots help stations choose the testimonials most suited for their needs.

“For participating stations, it was an overall positive experience.  It increased their knowledge of people of color in their coverage area, and introduced them to producers and directors in our communities.” – CAAM

“It was easy to find Ambassadors for the spots.  We found that many people like and respect PBS and are willing to go on camera to talk about it.  This was a great pilot program and we hope CPB will support the NMC’s efforts to bring diverse voices to the My Source initiative.” -PIC

“Stations are willing to find the necessary time and in-house resources to support our efforts, and to engage with independent Latina and Latino producers to produce the spots.” -LPB

“Locations are more dynamic than studios.  In addition to being visually interesting, it puts the subject/talent more at ease and places their story in a context they can relate to.” -NBPC

“In Seattle, we choose to work with Tracy Rector (Seminole), an award winning documentary filmmaker.  This is the first time she worked with a station (KCTS), and she learned a lot.  We are now working on two other projects with KCTS.” -NAPT

Whether you’ve got an idea to pitch, a promising rough cut to showcase, or a finished film, now is the time for you to submit your work to P.O.V. ^[42] for 2010 and beyond.

Submissions will be evaluated in four categories:

Standard: Finished films, or films that are at rough/fine cut stage. (Will be ready for broadcast in 2010)

Shorts: Finished films, or films that are at rough/fine cut stage AND whose final running time is 30 minutes or less. (Will be ready for broadcast in 2010)

Completion Funds: Films that are at assembly/rough/fine cut stage AND are seeking completion funds. (May not be ready for broadcast in 2010)

In-the-Works: Films at any stage, not ready for general submission, that a filmmaker would like to introduce to P.O.V.’s programming team for future consideration.

All films must be submitted through our online submission system, and the deadline for entries this year is Tuesday, June 30. Start by going to http://cfe.pov.org and follow the instructions to complete an entry form.

6-step guide to get you started with the process:

1. Add cfe[at]pov.org ^[43] to your email address book so that none of our correspondence to you is lost in a spam folder.

2. Make sure your browser will accept pop-up windows, and visit http://cfe.pov.org ^[44].

3. Click either of the two “Register” links (at the top and middle of the page) and complete the registration page.

4. Check your email for your registration confirmation. The confirmation email will usually arrive instantly, but may take up to 24 hours.

5. Click on the link within the confirmation email to activate your account. This is an obvious, but important step.

6. Once you’ve activated your account, log-in at http://cfe.pov.org ^[44] to complete your application. Enter your film’s title and click the button that says “Create New Call for Entries form.”

And that’s it! You’ve started a new entry, the rest of the form is pretty self-explanatory. Yance Ford, the P.O.V. Series Producer, has also written a great post about what P.O.V. looks for in a film ^[45] during the selection process.