Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Judith Lawrenson works with youngsters on 'The Reading Room' in this file photograph.

KSAR shows bring home awards

By Sarah Lombardo

KSAR-TV (Channel 6), Saratoga's community access station, is celebrating the recognition of three of its producers at the Bay Area Cable Excellence Awards last month. Bill and Judith Lawrenson won the award for Best Youth Show for their program, The Reading Room. Judy Jones garnered the award for Overall Technical Excellence for her show, For the Animals.

"It was really nice, especially because we only entered those two programs," says Tessa McGoldrick, KSAR's community-access director. "So next year, we're going to enter more."

The Reading Room is the only children's show on KSAR. It was started by McGoldrick, who wanted to see a children's show on the station, and by Judith Lawrenson, who always wanted to help kids read, and her husband, Bill.

"My cause my whole life has been children's literacy," says Lawrenson, a resource specialist at Sacred Heart School. "We're just beside ourselves."

And they're also more than just a little surprised. The Reading Room faced stiff competition from another Bay Area children's show called Silicone Kids, which is filmed at De Anza Community College in Cupertino.

Silicone Kids has a reputation for sweeping all the categories in which it is entered. "We thought, 'Oh boy, we're doomed,' " the Saratoga resident says about her competition, adding that The Reading Room is only about a year old and has taped only 50 episodes. "Then they called us. This is just such a Saratoga thing to have happen to us."

For the Animals is shown throughout Northern California, from Napa to Los Gatos. Begun in 1994, the show promotes animal advocacy and the environment and is sponsored by In Defense of Animals, an animal-rights group based in Mill Valley.

"We've never actually submitted anything [for consideration] before," Jones says. "We're anxious now to submit many episodes next year in several categories."

Jones says she has always known that her show was well-directed. "Our director doesn't settle for second-best," she adds. But Jones admits she was a little surprised when the show won an award, only because she says animal-advocacy shows do not usually win over other kinds of shows.

"It's really hard to get in with animals," she says.

Jones says the award could mean that public attitudes are changing about animal rights.

"I will really think that when we win an award in a different category," she says. "To really feel like I got my message out, we need to win in other categories as well."

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