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SBE Announces Winners of 2016 National Awards

July 28, 2016

The Society of Broadcast Engineers announces the recipients of the 2016 SBE National Awards. The awards recognize excellence and achievement by individual members, SBE chapters and Sustaining Member companies. The two highest individual awards are the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year and the James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year.

Presented to a member who has excelled in his or her career while furthering the mission of the SBE, the Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year is awarded to Michael Hendrickson, CPBE, CBNT, of Lakeville, MN. Hendrickson is a former SBE Chapter 17 chair, and currently a member of the SBE National Board of Directors.

The recipient of the James C. Wulliman SBE Educator of the Year award is recognized for outstanding service and excellence in sharing knowledge through teaching other broadcast engineers. The winner of the award is Cheryl Lustenberger, CBNT, CTO, of Chapter 11 in Boston. Lustenberger is the assistant manager at the Tufte Television Facilities at Emerson College and has been instrumental in creating a fun and educational environment to students interested in broadcast engineering.

Mike Hendrickson has been in the broadcast engineering industry for more than 35 years. Recently retired, Mike was elected to the national SBE Board of Directors in 2015. Prior to retirement, Mike was chief engineer for American Public Media and was responsible for the upgrade of Minnesota Public Radio stations in Minnesota and several stations in Florida. In addition to being a former chapter chairman of Chapter 17, Mike has held several offices. Mike wrote an early version of a database that contained entries of most of the 950MHz aural studio/transmitter link assignments in the area. He is remembered by some SBE members for the demonstration of this database at an SBE meeting in the early 1980s, when a static discharge from bad carpet to the computer ended the database demo!

2016 marks the fourth year that the Chapter Engineer of the Year Award has highlighted the achievements of members within their chapters. This year, seven chapters selected their own award recipients. Each winner will be presented with a special certificate and will be recognized nationally on the SBE website and in a future issue of The Signal. The nine chapter winners also were automatically nominated for the national Robert W. Flanders SBE Engineer of the Year Award.

Cheryl Lustenberger has spent the last nine years educating future broadcast engineers at Tufte Television Studios at Emerson College. Having previously worked at several network affiliates in Massachusetts before coming back to her alma mater as staff, she was always happy to help students learn about the technology behind the productions they were developing and carrying out. In addition to formal workshops on safety, rigging and technology, Cheryl makes herself available to students via personal workshops on most any subject. One Emerson College student commented, "Her devotion to lifelong learning and teaching sets an example for students who will have to keep up with a rapidly changing industry."

Blackmagic Design is awarded the 2016 SBE Technology Award for its URSA Studio Viewfinder, which turns the URSA mini, a compact lightweight Super 35 digital film camera, into a true professional studio camera.

Norman Portillo, CBT, CTO, has won the newly added Freedom Award. Portillo previously won the Educator of the Year award in 2014 and has continued that education and training throughout the military community with his move from the Defense Information School in Maryland to Fort Bragg, NC. Norman recently established an SBE Chapter at Fort Bragg, Chapter 147. He currently serves as the chairman of that chapter. His supervisor, Jeremiah Green commented, "I have seen him personally reach out to the military community about the SBE's programs and benefits. The command has also recognized his success and relies on him to connect the bridge between civilian and military training. Where the most Army military broadcast engineers are stationed, they now have a home where they can have training and certification opportunities."

Chapter Awards
Best Chapter Communication
Chapter 24 of Madison, WI

Best Regional Convention or Conference
SBE Chapters of Wisconsin, and the 2015 Broadcasters Clinic

Several SBE National Awards recognize chapters for growth in membership, percentage of certified members and highest average attendance at chapter meetings. These awards are based on statistics kept at the national office, as submitted by chapters. Two awards for each category are presented, based on chapter enrollment. Class A represents chapters whose membership is less than the national median. Class B includes chapters with a membership greater than the national median.

Greatest Growth in New Members
A: Chapter 96, Rockford, IL, Chapter Chairman Ben Pflederer
B: Chapter 7, Jacksonville, FL, Chapter Chairman Craig Butler, CSRTE

Most Certified Chapter
A: Chapter 118, Montgomery, AL, Chapter Chairman Wiely Boswell, CBRE, CBNE; Certification Chairman, Charlie Grider, CBRE, CBNT
B: Chapter 131, Inland Empire, CA, Chapter Chairman, Wayne Murphy, CPBE, CBNE; Certification Chairman, Paul Claxton, CPBE, CBNE

Highest Average Member Attendance
A: Chapter 145, Magic Valley, ID, Chapter Chairman Thomas Lowther, CSRTE, CBNT
B: Chapter 34, Albuquerque, NM, Chapter Chairman William Harris, CPBE, AMD, CBNT

Nominations for the 2017 awards will open in February.

All the awards will be presented during the SBE National Awards Dinner on October 27, at the SBE National Meeting in Columbus, OH. The National Meeting is being held in conjunction with the Ohio Broadcast Engineering Conference, which is presented by the Ohio Association of Broadcasters, the Ohio chapters of the Society of Broadcast Engineers, and the Ohio section of SMPTE.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers is the professional organization of television and radio engineers and those in related fields. The SBE has more than 5,100 members in 115 chapters across the United States and in Hong Kong. There are also members in more than 30 other countries. Most chapters meet monthly and offer educational programs and an opportunity to network with other engineers. The SBE offers the largest and most recognized certification program for broadcast engineers, operators and technicians, with more than 4,500 certifications currently active.

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