Excellence and Distinction award recipients named

New York, NY – The winners of the 28th Annual Communicator Awards have officially been announced by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA). With over 5,000 entries received from across the US and around the world, the Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals. Story Time with Chief Cassidy: “Let’s Meet a Firefighter” (Episode 20) was recognized as an Award of Excellence winner. Other winners of the Award of Excellence, the competition’s highest honor, include Forbes, The Walt Disney Company Europe & Africa, Mattel, State Farm, Philips, T-Mobile, and NASA Television.

“Coming in as the new managing director of the AIVA, I was thrilled to be greeted by such a high level of creativity amongst the submissions for the 28th season of The Communicator Awards,” said new AIVA managing director Lauren Angeloni. “I want to congratulate all of the honorees for their well-deserved wins. I would also like to extend deep and sincere thanks to our jurors, who have devoted a massive amount of time to give back to their communities in the evaluation of so much amazing and powerful work.”

Story Time with Chief Cassidy is a production of Holliston Cable Access Television (HCAT), with Bruce Gilfoy on camera and Chris McKnerney as editor. The series began in April 2020, as a way for the fire chief to share key fire safety messages with students during the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown. Since then, more than 30 episodes have been produced and posted to HCAT’s YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. In December 2020, Story Time with Chief Cassidy was selected as a 3rd Place winner in the B1 Children & Youth category of Alliance for Community Media – Northeast (ACM-NE) Region Video Festival. In September 2021, Cassidy and Gilfoy presented a workshop, Lights, Camera, Action!, at the 26th Annual Fire & Life Safety Education Conference in Hyannis, MA; showcasing the partnership between the fire department and public access television station. 

On May 5, the Holliston Public Library announced that Chief Cassidy would be the guest reader at 10:15 AM on Wednesday, May 25 for Tales and Tunes for Tots in the Gilman Room.