Sundance Film Festival
Park City, United States
100
Tier AOscarScreenings
Festival dossier
Hometown Media Awards 2026
United States · Est. 1979 · Established legitimate festival with meaningful track record
Tier BTrusted
United States
63
Legitimacy ScoreShould I submit?
Solid signals — do normal diligence
Tier B looks established enough for many filmmakers. Check fees, programming fit, and recent editions before submitting.
- No physical screenings
- 47 years of verifiable history
- 2 verified pro signals
Overview
The Hometown Media Awards is the Foundation of the ACM’s yearly awards program. It is established to honor and promote community media, community radio, and local cable programs that are distributed on Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) access cable television channels. Proceeds go to the ACM Foundation which is exclusively used for facilitating, preserving and promoting education in community media. Entries must come from non-commercial programming from access center professionals, independent producers and students. Programs entered must have had their first telecast on a local cable access channel or their initial stream/web distribution on or between January 1 and December 31, 2025. Each year, nearly one thousand entries are submitted. These entries are submitted and evaluated on several factors resulting in over 100 award winners. A panel of judges from the industry evaluate the entries. Awards are presented to the most creative programs that address community needs, develop diverse community involvement, challenge conventional commercial television formats and move viewers to experience television in a different way. **Please note the NEW categories added in 2026!
Last updated Sep 17, 2026
Legitimacy Analysis
Positive Indicators (+28 pts)
- 47 years of verifiable history
- 2 verified pro signals
- Verified trusted status
- Legitimacy signals outweigh concerns (3 vs 1)
Red Flags (-15 pts)
- No physical screenings
Trust Signals
Positive Signals
- Documented history with archived programs
- Has FilmFreeway community ratings
Festival Details
Founded
1979
FilmFreeway community
Avg. rating
3.8/ 5
Reviews
2
Synced 4 days ago
- Filmmaker
ACM always does a great job of putting on the Hometown Media Awards reception and ceremony!
- Filmmaker
Good virtual event, a nice "save" in a year where so many other events were cancelled due to the pandemic. Very creative of those at ACM to do it this way.
- Filmmaker
Review Festival Review
FilmFreeway reviews are filmmaker opinions, not our score. Cross-check red flags before paying fees.
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Research
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At a glance
How scoring works
Scores are calculated from structural indicators: accreditations, physical screenings, award category count, submission frequency, and acceptance rate. Higher scores reflect more verifiable legitimacy signals.
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