When Current launched “Rising Stars” last year, we wanted to spotlight younger professionals who embrace, reflect and deliver on the unique mission of public media. We asked for your nominations and over 200 of you answered!
This outpouring of submissions made it clear that many believe public media needs to pay closer attention to younger talents, to celebrate their work and showcase the many ways they are making public media better. Nominators wanted to see their colleagues recognized on a national level. And 22 of them were in the first cohort of Rising Stars.
So, how exactly do we define “young?” Last year, we landed on people aged 35 and under. This cut-off point means that the Rising Stars includes both early-career professionals and those who are approaching mid-career. We decided to stick with that age bracket in 2024.
Last year, we invited nominations of people working in all kinds of capacities, making contributions to the system across the silos of content and fundraising and technology. But, in truth, the overwhelming majority of nominees were journalists, hosts and producers. On some level, that makes sense since most would agree that content is public media’s primary service. But content creators aren’t the only ones who make a difference to public media’s multi-faceted mission.
We hope that this year, we’ll receive more nominations of development folks – people who are doing the hard work of raising the revenue that sustains public media’s service to their communities. We hope to see more nominations of those engaged in various aspects of technology – those who keep our stations on the air and programs flowing through various distribution channels. And we hope for more nominations of those involved in outreach – including marketing, education and engagement – people who represent our stations to the public and work to build audiences through messaging and face-to-face interactions in the community.
We want to hear about those who are innovating, bringing diversity and offering new ideas and approaches to their work. And, of course, we want to hear about colleagues who are great to work with!
So, who comes to mind for you? Who is making a big difference in your corner of public media? Let Current know by filling out our submission form. The deadline is May 17.
We can’t wait to read all about your Rising Stars! And, if you nominated someone last year, you can absolutely do it again this year.
Stay tuned: we’ll announce the Rising Stars of 2024 in August.