WPSU earns four 2022 regional Emmy award nominations

Screenshot of animated man and scientific method chart — The special “Science-U at Home,” which encourages children and caregivers to engage in science activities at home, received one of four 2022 regional Emmy nominations earned by WPSU. Credit: WPSU / Penn State. Creative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — WPSU earned four 2022 regional Emmy award nominations, including two for pandemic-related programming, from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

The four nominations for WPSU, central Pennsylvania’s public media station, were announced on Tuesday, Aug. 9. The chapter received 830 entries in 80 categories for the awards, which honor excellence in television news, programming and individual achievement in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

The 40th Annual Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards will be celebrated in person on Saturday, Oct. 1.

The nominated programs, which can all be viewed on the WPSU Digital Studios webpage, are:

“Adventures in Privy Digging: Meet Frank Harchak” (Historical/Cultural - Short Form Content)
“Science-U at Home” (Education/Schools - Documentary – Single Program)
“Geospatial Revolution: Mapping the Pandemic” (Health/Environment/Science - Documentary – Single Program)

Kristian Berg, the writer, producer and director of both “Science-U at Home” and “Mapping the Pandemic,” was nominated in the writing category for "Mapping the Pandemic.”

“Adventures in Privy Digging” is a limited series produced by WPSU Digital Studios featuring Houtzdale resident Frank Harchak and the local history he has discovered through digging up old outhouses.

“Science-U at Home,” shot on location at Penn State's popular Science-U summer camps, is intended to inspire children and their caregivers to engage in science activities at home. The special features original animation and live action sequences featuring campers, instructors and student mentors. It was developed as part of a longtime partnership between WPSU and the Penn State Eberly College of Science’s Office of Science Outreach. Funding was provided in part by a grant to public media stations from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to increase STEM programming during the pandemic.

“Geospatial Revolution: Mapping the Pandemic” shows how location intelligence and disease surveillance provided important information to researchers, public health officials, policy makers and the general public during the global pandemic. Narrated by Peter Coyote, the episode shows how experts from multiple disciplines came together to employ geospatial tools and massive amounts of data to track, analyze and fight the disease.

The nominated WPSU programs with production teams are:

“Adventures in Privy Digging: Meet Frank Harchak” (Historical/Cultural — Short Form Content)