Congratulations, Arizona Public Media, on the recent announcement that our local PBS station received a record 23 Emmy nominations—the most in the nonprofit category's history from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Rocky Mountain chapter. And big congratulatory hugs to former Tucson Weekly intern Mariana Dale, who worked on an Emmy-nominated segment.

From AZPM's announcement:

"I am extremely pleased to report that AZPM staff were again recognized with more Emmy nominations than any other station in Tucson and more than any other public broadcaster in the region," AZPM General Manager Jack Gibson said. "With 23 program/story nominations, and with 36 staff members nominated, this is the best performance in AZPM's history."

The nominees include three current or former UA students. On average, AZPM employs 16 UA students on its production team, where they learn hands-on about all facets of television production.

Mariana Dale, who graduated from the UA in May with a bachelor's degree in journalism, worked on the Emmy-nominated segment "Tucson Jazz Institute Ellington Band" while a student employee at AZPM.

"It's always great to be recognized for the work you do, especially when you know you put a lot of hard work into something," Dale said.

"Working at AZPM was immensely helpful," added Dale, who now works as a reporter at The Arizona Republic. "Their storytellers are just wonderful. They really push you to think about how you can produce for radio, TV and print. It stretches you to figure out different ways how to tell a story."

Arizona Public Media is a part of the UA's University Relations division.

University Relations, Communications, also is nominated for an Emmy in the Arts/Entertainment — News Single Story/Series/Feature category for the UANews video "Artists Draw from Life, Nature, Science on Tumamoc Hill," produced by Carina Johnson.

Each year, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognizes outstanding work in 90 television, production and creative communications categories. The winners will be announced at the Rocky Mountain Emmy Awards on Oct. 18 in Scottsdale.