Penn College Receives National Awards for TV Programming

Pennsylvania College of Technology's two television series have been honored with national awards.

The College's public affairs series, "Penn College & You," recently received a bronze Telly Award for Information Programming, while its public television cooking series, "You're the Chef," earned a Silver Paragon Award from the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations.

Established in 1980, the Telly has become one of the most sought-after awards in the television, commercial and video industries. Only 14-18 percent of more than 11,000 entries spanning 150 categories received the recognition bestowed on "Penn College & You." Previous winners of Tellys include high-profile media outlets such as NBC, PBS, ESPN and TNT.

Distributed to about 8 million homes in several states through local cable systems and satellite, "Penn College & You" features the expertise of College faculty and staff on diverse topics. The monthly, 30-minute series serves as a form of outreach for the College, which produces "Penn College & You" in conjunction with Susquehanna Communications in Williamsport.

The College won the Telly for the "Art of Auto Body" episode of "Penn College & You." The show featured Alfred M. Thomas II, associate professor of collision repair, who demonstrated how to flame and pinstripe a vehicle.

"Penn College & You" is hosted and produced by Tom Speicher, the College's broadcast media specialist, and directed by Mike Struck, production manager at Susquehanna Communications.

The Paragon Awards recognize excellence in communications at community, junior and technical colleges.

"You're the Chef," which features practical recipes made with readily available ingredients, received the Silver Paragon Award in the College Video Program category for the "Beef Bash" episode.

"You're the Chef" is hosted by Chef Paul Mach, an assistant professor of food and hospitality management/culinary arts in the College's School of Hospitality, and Speicher, who is not a chef.

A nationally distributed series, "You're the Chef" has aired on 83 public television stations covering 58 markets, 43 million homes and more than 100 million people during the past 14 months. The College produces "You're the Chef" with WVIA, the PBS affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

"We are proud to offer a national television viewing audience an education in fine dining through 'You're the Chef,' as well as a wide variety of educational resources through 'Penn College & You,' " said Elaine J. Lambert, director of college information and community relations. "These award-winning television shows allow us to reach millions of viewers with the message of excellent educational opportunities available at Pennsylvania College of Technology."