University Place TV wins six national NATOA awards for city videos

Mayor Figueroa and staff presented six national awards won by University Place TV (UPTV) at the Jan. 6 council meeting, recognizing the communications team's work on videos about the city, including the Veterans Plaza profile that earned multiple honors.

The mayor described the awards as national recognition from NATOA (the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors) and asked UPTV staff to come forward. Linda Sees, the city's communications director, said UPTV submitted a range of programming to the competition and that the organization competes nationally. "It's pretty big to win," Sees said, calling the two awards of excellence and the other distinctions a "big year" for the city's communications work.

Producer Amanda Kilber credited volunteer efforts and local partners for the Veterans Plaza project and said the work honored local veterans and community volunteers. "This video was so special to us because it got to highlight a group of people who do amazing work in this community," Kilber said. The mayor and Sees identified the award categories for the two awards of excellence as partnership production and profile of an organization; other distinctions included documentary and profile of a resident, and awards of honor also recognized a city employee profile and a garden-tour piece.

Sees and Kilber encouraged the public to view the award-winning videos on the city's YouTube channel. Dave Kelman, who the mayor described as integral to production, was noted as not present at the meeting.

The council acknowledged the communications staff and accepted the ceremonial presentation; no formal action was required.