Tell us about your organization. How big is your team? Where are you based? What is your organization’s specialty in the film and video space?
VPM is a dual-license PBS & NPR affiliate based in Richmond, VA, serving Central Virginia with local and national public media content. Virginia Home Grown is VPM’s longest running original TV series, now in its 26th season. The core creative team for an episode is usually less than 10 people. Our episodes focus on gardening, growing, science, nature and the environment.
Why do you do what you do? Was there a transformative moment that solidified your career choice, your org’s success, or your commitment to storytelling?
A key part of Virginia Home Grown is viewer feedback. We answer viewer questions on the show and off air all year round so we get lots of comments thanking us for being a resource for the community, sharing success stories for growing various plants, and photos of viewer gardens that were inspired by the show.
Tell us about your Telly Award winning piece. What’s the story behind it?
While planning for season 25 we called it our “fun” season. In previous years we had themed entire seasons around messages of sustainability, native plants and understanding local ecosystems. So in 2025 we decided to go with our wishlist of ideas that had not gone with the theme of earlier seasons. We ended up being able to feature some really interesting ideas like; can we record an episode outside at night, or do a feature with microscopic imagery? It all came together to bring about some really informative episodes about topics we had never touched on before and some very striking visuals too.
Can you share a behind the scenes story or fun fact about the making of your piece?
We have been working over the years to make the show more sustainable behind the scenes. Last year all of our field segments were powered by rechargeable batteries – lights, cameras, mics, field monitors, everything.
You won a Telly Award for this piece. Why is recognition important for you, your team or your work?
Our program has been honored with several Telly Awards over the years. It always feels great to be able to look at the other winning entries for programs with similar content and see that our small team is able to compete with larger production houses, national and international media companies and produce work that is just as high quality.
