WMHS Yearbook Staff and Woburn Public Media Center Receive National Award

Mr. Brian Ouellette, executive director of Woburn Public Media Center (WPMC) is pleased to announce that the Alliance For Community Media (ACM) has awarded WPMC, with collaboration from the Woburn Memorial High School Yearbook Staff, a national award for best “Music Video” in the Independent Producer category for the “WMHS Lip Dub 2014”.  A ceremony was held at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel in California this past August honoring winners from media centers across the United States. 

The Alliance For Community Media is a national organization whose principles are to promote free speech, expand civic engagement through local media, collaborate with others and act as one voice.  Every spring the ACM holds a contest for all media centers in the United States called the Hometown Media Awards.

The Hometown Media Awards honor and promote community media and local cable programs that are distributed on PEG access television cable channels.  Awards are presented to creative programs that address community needs, develop diverse community involvement, challenge conventional commercial television formats and move viewers to experience television in a different way.

The video was directed by Dylan Scott with assistant director Kevin Thifault, and technical help from Brian Ouellette and Lauren Coleman from WPMC.  The 2014 yearbook staff members are now sophomores in college and were very excited to hear of the award.  The staff members are Dylan Scott, Brianna Meagher, Kate Girardi, Kevin Thifault, Gaelle Jeune, Doug Salvati, Caterina Gentile, Devin Parziale and Calvin Xie. 

The staff worked very hard to promote school pride and were the first yearbook staff to produce an all school video with over 1,400 students and 100 faculty members.  Mrs. Michelle Getherall and Mrs. Susan Thifault, yearbook advisors were thrilled with the national award.  Thifault stated, “It's been an unbelievable two years with our lip dub videos, with the 2014 staff receiving this award and the 2015 staff receiving the “High 5” award from WCVB channel 5’ Mike Lynch.  We are extremely honored to have such wonderful hard working yearbook staff members.”

(In the photo left to right, Mrs. Susan Thifault, Kevin Thifault, Dylan Scott, auren Coleman and Brian Ouellette.)