Silicon Valley De-Bug to Receive the 2016 Leigh Weimers' Community Media Champion Award

CreaTV San Jose announced today that SILICON VALLEY De-Bug, the nationally recognized media, community organizing and entrepreneurial collective based in San Jose, will be this year's recipient of the Leigh Weimers' Community Media Champion Award.

Raj Jayadev, SILICON VALLEY De-Bug Coordinator, will accept the award on behalf of the organization at The Creatives, an interactive event celebrating the people and programs of CreaTV, which will be held on March 3, 2016 at Club Auto Sport in San Jose.

"We are deeply honored to receive this award as we salute CreaTV's commitment in making San Jose an inclusive city where all voices are not only heard, but amplified through powerful, thoughtful, and impact-producing independent media platforms." - Raj Jayadev, SILICON VALLEY De-Bug Coordinator

The Leigh Weimers' Community Media Champion Award recognizes individuals and organizations that advocate for the local voice. Their public policy work and staunch support of independent media ensure that community voices are represented in mainstream media.

SILICON VALLEY De-Bug defines the community media champion. Since its inception in 2001, De-Bug has produced award-winning media focusing on unheard voices, including youth, immigrants, and other marginalized communities. By carving out a space in the media landscape for new experiences to be included in the larger public discourse, De-Bug has informed policy and civic decision-making, while also allowing a talented new generation of artists, story-tellers, and journalists to develop and display their craft.

Past awardees include California State Senator Joe Simitian, City of San Jose PIO, Tom Manheim, Bob Kieve, President and Founder of EMPIRE Broadcasting, legendary actor and activist, Ed Asner, and California State Assemblymember, Roger Hernández.

In addition to the presentation of the Community Media Champion Award, The Creatives will include a DIY Showcase, stories of inspiration and the presentation of five awards recognizing videomakers who produce content for CreaTV's television and Internet channels.

Special guests include filmmakers Antonia Bogdanovich and Stephen Chester Prince, plus DJ Cutso of The Bangerz. Tickets are $125 apiece and include a reception at 5:30pm, followed by dinner and the program at 6:30pm. Tickets may be purchased at Creatvsj.org.

Of Special Note: Among this year's finalists for Creative Special is Exodus from the Jungle, produced by SILICON VALLEY De-Bug's Andrew Bigelow and Daniel Zapien. Exodus from the Jungle documents the closing of one of the country's largest homeless encampments in the heart of Silicon Valley.

About CreaTV San Jose: CreaTV San Jose is the member-based, nonprofit community media center that manages the public and education TV and Internet channels for the City of San Jose. We fulfill our mission to inspire, educate and connect San Jose communities, using media to foster civic engagement, by providing free airtime and low-cost training and tools that allow diverse and underserved communities to tell their stories through video.

Since its inception in 2008, CreaTV has aired more than 22,000 community videos in eight languages, helped hundreds of non-profits tell their stories and build capacity and served more than 20,000 youth through our MAP grant to San Jose schools and partnerships with Adobe Youth Voices, SILICON VALLEY Creates, Xilinx Educational Ecosystem and Mayor's Gang Prevention Task Force.

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