(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – The local public broadcasting station recently earned a national award for community engagement programming.

KMOS-TV at the University of Central Missouri was one of 20 broadcasters from across the nation to receive the award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association at the group’s annual conference in St. Louis.

The station was recognized for bringing the annual KMOS-TV Kids Day to rural central Missouri. The 10^th annual Kids Day in Columbia on May 14, 2011, was the largest on record. Since KMOS-TV started the program, attendance has grown from 300 to this year’s attendance of more than 6,500.

Thirty sponsors provided nearly $15,000 in cash and more than $42,000 in in-kind donations to make the 2011 Kids Day possible, according to a news release.

“The original intent of KMOS Kids Day was to establish closer ties with the many communities reached by KMOS-TV and to provide young families with tools to engage in hands-on learning with their children in the home,” said Rosemary Olas, UCM’s interim director of broadcasting services. “The unanticipated bonus for us has been getting to know and partner with the amazing residents of central Missouri. They made KMOS Kids Day a success. It’s especially gratifying to be recognized by our peers in the public media community for this project.”

Learn more about KMOS-TV, its programming and community outreach programs at www.kmos.org.