HCTV receives seven top three finishes from NAOTA awards

Posted 9/28/21

By Theodore Tollefson [email protected] After receiving a record-setting number of award nominations from the National Association of Telecommunication Officers & Advisors, Hastings …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

HCTV receives seven top three finishes from NAOTA awards

Posted

By Theodore Tollefson

[email protected]

After receiving a record-setting number of award nominations from the National Association of Telecommunication Officers & Advisors, Hastings Community Television received the results from last Thursday’s night awards ceremony.

HCTV took three first place finishes Thursday, the first of which was for the Live Community Event Coverage category which HCTV won for their coverage of the Hastings High School Graduation Ceremony Class of 2020. The second first-place finish was for the Visual Arts category, winning for the intro animation for “Don't Flip the Table.” Finally, HCTV took a firstplace finish in the Humor category for “Take a Hike, Mike! Bremer Farms Update.”

HCTV also took second place in the Humor category for another “Take a Hike, Mike!” nomination, that one being for “Take a Hike, Mike! Port of Hastings Outfitters.”

The other second-place finish for HCTV was for the Live Sports Event category, for their Feb. 20, 2021 coverage of HCTV Sports: Hastings Boys Hockey vs. Simley. HCTV sports also received a third-place finish in the Editing category as the HCTV Sports Classic Promo was awarded for its editing.

The seventh and final award the HCTV received was a thirdplace finish in the Election Coverage category for their coverage of the Hastings Candidate Forum.

“We put countless hours into creating our productions from pre-production, to editing, to exporting the final project,” said Mike Bremer, Executive Director of HCTV. “It all takes so many more hours than most people realize. The NATOA nominations and awards serve as a great affirmation that we are on the right track. I am so proud of our HCTV staff for getting seven top three finishes at the NATOA awards! This is the most success we have ever had and we plan to keep building off of this success.”

Hunter Pinke, HCTV’s sports director, spoke on the rewarding experience of the recognition HCTV Sports has received from the NAOTA awards.

“It feels extremely gratifying. Before I was hired, sports coverage was almost non-existent aside from home football games and a few select games that would be covered from time to time. It feels really great to see something you practically built up from the ground up be nominated for something like that. On top of that, we only lost to CTN Coon Rapids and they cover the St. Paul Saints, so I really can't feel too bad about that,” said Pinke.

To build on the success, Pinke plans to continue his number one goal for HCTV Sports: Giving student-athletes at Hastings High School the best type of coverage possible that can relate to being like a big sports television network.

“I recall Simon Hedin, a recent Raider grad, came up to me with a few other players before a game at Grossman Field and asked ‘How many cameras do you guys have today?’ and I said three. He responded with ‘Oh, that so, we're getting some Fox Sports North Coverage. Awesome.’ It honestly made my day and has inspired me to keep grinding and upping our sports productions. I am hoping to keep improving on my graphic work and providing statistical information for viewers and hopefully at some point in the future to implement a replay system. It'll take a little bit of time but I think we'll get there. With a few technical upgrades, I think I can make our sports broadcasts extra-fun for the Hastings community,” said Pinke.