<p> 5550 Highway 63S Columbia, Missouri 65201</p><p>Contact(s): Matt Garrett (573) 884-2947 ______</p><p>For Immediate Release June 15, 2010</p><p>KOMU 8 Wins National Service to America Community Award</p><p>COLUMBIA, MO – The National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF) </p><p> honored KOMU 8 on Monday with its celebrated Service to America Community Award for Radio and </p><p>Television. </p><p>This award honors radio and television broadcasters for a single campaign, project or program that </p><p> serves the common good or otherwise provides exemplary service to their local community. There is only </p><p> one television recipient of this award each year, regardless of market size.</p><p>KOMU 8 was honored for its community journalism project, Central Missouri Honor Flight. Central</p><p>Missouri Honor Flight is the local hub of the nationwide Honor Flight program that sends terminally ill and </p><p> aging veterans to see their Memorials in Washington D.C. at no cost to them. </p><p>There are approximately 90 Honor Flight hubs across the country, but Central Missouri Honor Flight </p><p> is only one started and sustained by television station employees. KOMU 8 News Anchor Sarah Hill and </p><p>Videographer Scott Schaefer began an effort to start this local hub after doing a story about an Honor Flight </p><p>Hub in western Missouri. In 2009, Central Missouri Honor Flight raised more than raised more than </p><p>$315,000 to send approximately 400 veterans to Washington, DC to see their memorials.</p><p>“A campaign of this size is not possible with the efforts of just a few,” said KOMU 8 General </p><p>Manager Marty Siddall. “Every department within KOMU 8 played an important role in supporting Central </p><p>Missouri Honor Flight so that we could provide this great service our veterans. I’m very proud of what we have accomplished as a team and I thank Sarah and Scott for bringing this cause into our hearts and the hearts of our viewers.” Representatives from KOMU 8 attended the Celebration of Service to America Awards dinner in </p><p>Washington D.C. on Monday evening to accept the award in person.</p><p>KOMU 8 is a self-funded auxiliary enterprise of the University of Missouri. The station serves a dual purpose within the community. KOMU 8 provides the public with news and entertainment programming while also serving as an educational institution for students of the University of Missouri. The KOMU 8 newsroom is the only one of its kind to also serve as a teaching lab. At KOMU 8, students attending the prestigious University of Missouri School of Journalism are given the unique opportunity to work alongside professional journalists in a real-life newsroom. This program is set up through the school’s Department of </p><p>Broadcast Journalism. KOMU 8 also operates Mid-Missouri’s CW station.</p><p>- 30 -</p>