Glendale, AZ -- (ReleaseWire) -- 08/07/2007 -- Ed Sharpe and CouryGraph Productions, creator of KKAT-IPTV and Glendale Daily Planet was recently honored by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) with a gold Hermes Creative Award.

Hermes Creative Awards recognizes outstanding work in the industry while promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communication professionals.

"Our team is extremely honored by this recognition," said Ed Sharpe, Director of CouryGraph Productions which created KKAT - IPTV for Glendale Daily Planet. "This award reflects the quality of our methodology and work of our engineering staff to implement unique and innovative streaming methods for local programming on the Internet. Sharpe continued, "I think our product is a result of the entire city's interest, advice and participation... " In addition, Sharpe wanted to thank Bill Schreiner, who collaborated on the engineering aspects of the site.

Bill Schreiner comments" The Glendale Daily Planet, despite it's whimsical name, is a serious social/technical experiment in local journalism...." He continued ". The brainchild of long time Glendale resident, Ed Sharpe, The Glendale Daily Planet provides professional quality video journalism at the local level with global distribution"

Sharpe states " It is not just about showing news and events today... Archived footage of all of our shows will be put on file with the appropriate historical societies thus forming a 'time capsule' of video footage representing this time in the city's period of dynamic growth.

Schreiner continued: "As a volunteer engineering and I.T. technical consultant to The Planet, and long time Internet broadcaster, I consider working with Ed as a privilege and assisting in this endeavor as a public service: an experiment in true local democracy. The Glendale Daily Planet should serve as a prototype for small community Internet TV stations nationwide.

Finally Sharpe wanted to extend his thanks to other people in the newspaper, radio, television and cable industry that have counseled him and provided an example of technique and values. "I would be nothing without them" Sharpe stated.

CouryGraph Productions Won the Gold Hermes Creative Awards (http://www.hermesawards.com) for its Internet Television Channel KKAT-IPTV,which is an online news source for Glendale Arizona. The Hermes Creative Award is for creative professionals and organizations involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional and emerging media.

"The judges were impressed with the effort and use of technology in creating a truly 'local' news operation yet allowing global accessibility online" said Ed Dalheim, chairman, advisory board, Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals.

Hermes Creative Awards recognizes outstanding work in the industry while promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communication professionals. The awards, chosen from 3,000 entries this year, are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (http://www.amcpros.com). The international organization consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, media production and free-lance professionals.

As part of its mission, AMCP fosters and supports the efforts of creative professionals who contribute their unique talents to public service and charitable organizations. Hermes entrants are not charged entry fees to enter work they produced pro bono. In addition, the efforts of generous marketing and communication professionals are acknowledged through grants and special recognition.

Glendale Daily Planet, the parent organization of KKAT-IPTV was started in 2004 as the first community journalism news site in Glendale and perhaps all of Arizona. ., Serving The Metro West Side of the Valley of the Sun, Glendale Daily Planet has witnessed, participated in and recorded the further rejuvenation of the downtown core, the meteoric rise of the 'Glendale Sports Empire' and the restoration of historic sections of the town.

One aspect Sharpe is most proud of is the ability to have a continuous 24/7 stream of archived footage in the player but yet, when a special event arises, have the ability to go live interrupting the pre-programmed content to cover the event. With the advent of higher speed EVDO radio cards and compact portable satellite terminals the options are limitless.

Residents can now catch stories of interest on their schedule, taking advantage of the on-demand character of Internet media. No more waiting for 5 or 10pm and no need to program the TiVo. Important stories remain available, a mouse click away, for years in the online archives..

In addition to his work With KKAT-IPTV, CouryGraph Productions and the Glendale Daily Planet, Ed Sharpe is the webmaster for MCA-I Chapter 44 in Phoenix Arizona and a member of the national Media Communications Association-International Association.

Sharpe also is a member of Society of Broadcast Engineers(SBE), Investigative Reporters and Editors(IRE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society of Professional Journalists(SPJ), National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), and other associations.

The work of Ed Sharpe from CouryGraph Productions and other participative community journalists and engineering staff may be viewed, 24-hours a day, seven days a week at http://www.glendaledailyplanet.com.

Interested in having your work seen by the world? Contact the Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV to schedule airing! Use the email link on the site.