Ann Theis
Community-based Media has been an intrinsic part of Ann’s life ever since she attended Antioch College to become a documentary filmmaker. During her time at Antioch she discovered the importance of community media under the guidance of Chris Hill, Bob Devine and Anne Bohlen, and learned that teaching people to express their own voice was more important than merely documenting them.
Ann started her community media career at Manhattan Neighborhood Network as a Production Assistant and then became the Director of Production and Education. For the last 12 years, Ann has been guiding the Open Media Foundation's community media efforts with Denver Open Media and its user-driven tools that minimized staffing and operations costs. Youth Media has been a passion of hers and she has mentored hundreds of youth both at MNN and at DOM over the last twenty years. Ann has also served on the ACM Western Region and National Boards.
Tony Shawcross
As the founder and Executive Director of the Open Media Foundation, Tony has launched dozens of initiatives aimed at democratizing the tools for shaping public awareness and public policy. Tony developed and launched the visionary model for community media that became Denver Open Media. Recent efforts include Denver Open Media’s new Community Radio stations, and a Nation-Wide Transparency Service for Streaming and Archiving state and local govt video at www.Open.Media.
This year, Tony was recognized with the Colorado Press Association’s annual “Friend of the First Amendment” award for his work as a “passionate advocate of First Amendment rights, freedom of the press and open government.”