"This is a chance for us to say thank you," says Charles Uphoff, the executive director of The rotunda is even more crowded than it was in 2006, with nearly every seat occupied and the walls ringed with more attendees and presenters. Nobody knows who any of the award winners are yet, though, as the voting is ongoing and will not get tallied until moments before the presentations are made. Fourteen total YOUies in two broad categories -- One Time Programs and Series Programming -- are to be given through the evening. The awards themselves are square ceramic planters bearing the image of a TV, hand-made over the course of three late nights at the Memorial Union Craft Shop by Eric Allin, Heidi Johnson, and Sara Meredith. Allin and Johnson are also busy at the ceremony, the former with handling a video clips presentation system for the nominees and the latter with wrangling the awards. The full list of nominees and winners in the 2007 YOUies follows below. One Time Programs The Community Events category is presented by former Madison school board member Bill Keys. The Music Performance category is presented by contemporary folk singer-songwriter
The "Cooking with Bob" Art Performance Video category was to have been presented by the titular Bob. He was not present, however, so Zarov takes over. By this point, the ceremony really starts rolling, with most of the technical issues with the video presentation sorted out. The clips shown in this category were a bit longer than the others, each generating laughs from the audience.
- by Roger Bindl
- Dr. V's Private Hell by Reid Vogelman and Dr. Fork
- Conundrum by Heidi Johnson, Jeff Harriet and Eric Allin
- Dada Loco by Charles Johannsen
- Winner: DW's Show by D.W. Wanberg
The Current Affairs/Political category ibs presented by John Nichols and Bob McChesney, the Cap Times editor and former UW School of Journalism professor who are well known for their leadership in media policy battles. They jumped right into one of the hottest issues, talking about the importance of public access and government TV stations around the country and the current threat to their funding by the so-called video competition bill currently under consideration in the Wisconsin legislature.
"You are in the midst of a serious political fight," says Nichols.
- by Luciano Matheron
- Political Intellect by Danny Maldanado
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- Winner: NFL Intellect by Danny Maldanado
The Entertainment/Variety category is presented by Katy Sai, formerly of WISC television and about to launch her own project,
- by Ignacio Rivas
Six people -- including its thirteen year old director -- take the stage to accept the award, a number that is attributed to the amount of effort required to create a two-hour program.
The Comedy category is presented by Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan of Blame Society Productions. Their presentation is appropriately enough, a comedy bit. They poke fun at themselves and their "stardom" resulting from the success of Chad Vader, with each taking a mock cell phone call from an agent, from whom they demand more money and a panther for their next project before firing him. This gets laughs and a round of applause as they present the nominees and winner.
- by Justin Riley and Pat Aspinwall
- DW's Show by D.W. Wanberg
- Phillip Snodgrass and Friends by Tony Zirngible
- Winner: A-Bar by Lee Bradetich
"I don't know how many of you are awake at 3 a.m. on Friday nights, but we are," says Bradetich, who thanks the show's callers above all.
A long intermission follows at this point, during which Uphoff thanks a variety of persons assisting both with the station and the production of this awards program.
The final portion of the show begins with the presentation of the Live Format category by Norm Stockwell, the operations director of WORT. He discusses the similar mission of both stations and their long history of collaboration. He also compares these live shows to the live format that is the medium of radio. "This is the power of community television and it is very well represented in this category," Stockwell says.
- Curb Music by Jason Kwiatkowski
- A-Bar by Lee Bradetich
- The West African Experience: Music from the Continent by Sankulay Jallow
- Winner: Lake City Live by Dave Batz
- Lighthouse Church by Mary Schultz
- Pentecostal Man by Norman Davis
- The Garden of Truth by Abdullah Champion
- Winner: . He discusses his next project, by Craig Meyer
- El Barrio by Hector Ordonez and Alex Gillis
- Capitol City Band by James Latimer
- by Terry Kline
- The West African Experience: Music from the Continent by Sankulay Jallow
- Winner: Curb Music by Jason Kwiatkowski
The final awards are given in recognition to WYOU volunteers Jason Kwiatkowski and Yamina Steit. Like many of the previous speakers, Kwiatkowski discusses the current political battle over regulating cable and the threatened defunding of cable access in Wisconsin. "Time is ticking on this resource," he says, and urges the audience to make their voices heard on the issue. "I don't think people really understand what's at stake."
The show ends with a brief statement by the 2007 Miss Madison Christina Thompson, who invites all nominees to take the stage for a group photo, following which a final round of thanks are given by WYOU board chair Roger Bindl.
The last clip to hit the screens? A station promo featuring volunteers sharing their experiences there, one that ends with an endorsement from Scarlett Johannson: "WYOU Community Television, where you always comes first."
