Three Northwest Philadelphia residents won national recognition with Hometown Media Awards for their work with PhillyCAM, Philadelphia’s community media center. The annual event, organized by the Alliance for Community Media, celebrates excellence in community media programming.

Mt. Airy resident Michelle Gilliard-Houston, Maleka Fruean of Germantown and Wayne Hunter, who lives in Cedarbrook, were on the team that created and produces the community news program "Block by Block," which won the Audio Programming Community Radio Award. 

The program is a product of PhillyCAM’s Community Radio News Fellows and serves as a platform for exploring and discussing issues affecting the Philadelphia area, including gun violence, mental health, criminal record expungement, check washing, and data privacy. Philadelphia residents Kris Hill and John Morrison from North Philly, Brujo de la Mancha from West Philly and Salina Singleton from Kensington are also on the team. 

The winning team was recognized June 28 at the Hometown Media Awards ceremony in Brooklyn, where they were applauded for their dedication to delivering reliable and impactful news to their audience. 

PhillyCAM, besides operating a public access television network, also runs a low-power community radio station, WPPM-FM, reaching approximately 800,000 people throughout the Philadelphia region. The organization’s mission is to teach Philadelphians to create high-quality, non-commercial media.

 To learn more about PhillyCAM, visit phillycam.org.