{"id":211950,"date":"2026-03-09T19:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211950\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T19:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:02:17","slug":"fresnos-cmac-takes-home-8-honors-at-2026-wave-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/211950\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno\u2019s CMAC Takes Home 8 Honors at 2026 WAVE Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/cmac.tv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Community Media Access Collaborative<\/a> earned eight awards for local storytelling at the 2026 Western Access Video Excellence Awards, celebrating diverse talents ranging from student creators to seasoned community producers.<\/p>\n<p>The awards, hosted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/acmwest.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Alliance for Community Media<\/a> West Region, honor excellence in community media across Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>Half of CMAC\u2019s eight award-winning producers emerged from the organization\u2019s own training programs, including the Youth Voices program and the multi-nominated Fresno Art Beat project, highlighting a dedication to cultivating local creators, the organization said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/gvwire.com\/contact\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280\u00d790-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280x90-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"   width=\"1280\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing our community recognized at the WAVE Awards directly reflects CMAC\u2019s mission to empower local voices,\u201d said CMAC Executive Director Bryan Harley. \u201cOur WAVE winners reflect the spirit of the Central Valley and we are so proud of each and every one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the standout winners CMAC highlighted were Tony Imperatrice and Claudio Laso, who took home the Experimental (All Producers) award for \u201cCassini,\u201d a film detailing NASA\u2019s Cassini mission that features an original musical score.<\/p>\n<p>Students Take Home the Gold<\/p>\n<p>Student producer Robert Ceja was honored in the Talk Show\/Community Issues\/Underserved Voices (Student) category for \u201cPutting the Pieces Together.\u201d The short documentary explores stereotypes surrounding autism and follows Ceja\u2019s personal journey to advocate for respect and inclusion.<\/p>\n<p>Redwood High School students also made a strong showing, contributing to three of the winning student projects.<\/p>\n<p>The full list of CMAC\u2019s 2026 WAVE Award winners:<\/p>\n<p>Arts, Culture, &amp; Events (Student): \u201cMelody Gone Wrong\u201d \u2013 Autumn Batti, Hannah Johnson, and Jared Calvillo, Redwood High School<br \/>\nExperimental (All Producers): \u201cCassini\u201d \u2013 Tony Imperatrice and Claudio Laso<br \/>\nLive Format (Community Producer): \u201cFresno Rainbow Pride Parade 2025\u201d \u2013 Fresno Art Beat Crew &amp; Volunteers<br \/>\nLive Format (Student): \u201cFresno State Focus Newscast\u201d \u2013 Fresno State Focus<br \/>\nNarrative Film \u2013 Short or Feature (Student): \u201cSilent Orbit\u201d \u2013 Lily Seargent, Jesus Rivera Lopez, and Hannah Johnson, Redwood High School<br \/>\nNews\/Documentary\/Magazine Show (Student): \u201cTony\u2019s Strength\u201d \u2013 Hannah Johnson, Tony Thompson, and Eric Navarro, Redwood High School<br \/>\nTalk Show (Community Producer): \u201cThe Munro Review\u201d \u2013 Donald Munro and the Fresno Art Beat Crew<br \/>\nTalk Show\/Community Issues\/Underserved Voices (Student): \u201cPutting the Pieces Together\u201d \u2013 Robert Ceja<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>Connect with\u00a0\u00a0on social media. 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Send an\u00a0.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Community Media Access Collaborative earned eight awards for local storytelling at the 2026 Western Access Video Excellence&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-211950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}