The American Cable Association announce on July 23 this year's winners of the trade group's most prestigious awards, which honor partnership, selfless dedication and vital support designed to ensure that the independent cable community remains hometown America's indispensable link to world-class voice, video and broadband communications services.

"ACA is a thriving enterprise in so many important ways because it can rely on the tireless service rendered by ACA Members who want to see locally based cable operators flourish in the competitive public policy arena," ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka said. "ACA's highest awards go to those special individuals and companies that have stood out in terms of their effort to provide ACA with the resources needed to prevail on the issues, and I salute each of them on receiving these richly deserved accolades."

ACA's awards were presented before hundreds of ACA Members in attendance for the 7th Independent Show in Lake Buena Vista, Fl. An annual cable industry forum, the Independent Show focused on the key public policy issues facing independent cable operators. The event was co-hosted and jointly organized by ACA and the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), a Lenexa, Kansas-based group that purchases programming and equipment for U.S. cable operators. This year's show included more than 1,300 attendees.

During ACA's annual Membership meeting, ACA's top honors were presented to the following:

• PAC Leadership Award: General Communications Inc. (GCI) and Massillon Cable TV. This award recognizes GCI and Massillon for greatly increasing PAC contribution totals and significantly increasing the number of ACA PAC donors in the past year.
• PAC Individual Award: Belinda Dunivan, Chief Operating Officer of Windjammer Cable.The PAC Individual Award recognizes enthusiasm, dedication and support for the ACA PAC and for creating a culture of knowledge within the company regarding the ACA PAC's important role and purpose.
• ACA Partnership Award: Viamedia. The ACA partnership award is presented to an associate member for demonstrating dedication and support to the mission of ACA and to the success of smaller, independent cable businesses and for encouraging our efforts and contributing to our growth.