Posted: Monday, October 12, 2009 11:11 am

Murfreesboro’s Cable Television Department received several national awards during the 24th annual Government Programming Awards presented by the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA).

The city’s cable television channel, The City Channel, is located on Comcast cable channel 3 and AT&T’s U-Verse channel 99.

The winners were announced during a gala event Friday, Oct. 2 in New Orleans, La.

Murfreesboro’s government television station brought home a second and third place award for the “We Know Education in Rutherford County” video highlighting the local school system produced by John Padgett and Terri Sterling in the category for Profile of a City/County Department and Community Awareness respectively, and an honorable mention for the program “Adventures in Murphry’s Burrow”, a program produced by Nancy Phillips and Steve Burris in the category for Children/Young Adults.

“This recognition would not have been possible without the support and vision of the City Council, City Administration, and the Murfreesboro Cable Television Commission to create the department and channel which became operational in 1993,” Cable Television Coordinator Alan Bozeman said.

“This year’s winners demonstrate excellence in local government programming and we are thrilled to honor and celebrate their achievements,” NATOA President Mary Beth Henry said. “We congratulate these members for recognizing and actively supporting government access programming’s role in building stronger, more connected communities.”

For the 65 award categories, NATOA received more than 810 entries from local governments in more than 21 states across the country and Canada.

NATOA is a nonprofit professional association whose mission is to support and serve the telecommunications interest and needs of local governments. NATOA is made up of individuals and organizations responsible for advising those responsible for telecommunications polices and services in local governments throughout the country.