Jay April

Jay April is a documentary filmmaker, video journalist, and President and CEO of Akaku Maui Community Media, whose path into the field began in 1977 when he shot Seabrook 1977 using a Sony Portapak - one of the first video documentaries on civil disobedience and nuclear power, and one that helped ignite a broader anti-nuclear movement. That early work placed him in the founding circles of the public access movement, including the group of organizers who were forming what became the national community media advocacy organization. He graduated from Boston College with a degree in education in 1972 and went on to help jumpstart public access television in Connecticut, where he drafted the first state law in the nation to protect it.

His career spanned national cable consulting, a role in launching E! Entertainment Television, work as a specialist in guerrilla television for The 90s on PBS, and coverage as a special correspondent for CNN's Environmental Unit, among other credits. He won awards for Best Super Bowl spot of 1995 and Best Film in Hawaii. He joined Akaku's board of directors in 2001 and became President and CEO in January 2007, leading Maui's only public access, community television, and civic media resource through changing technology, shifting franchise agreements, and ongoing battles to preserve public access funding for Maui Nui's communities across Maui, Moloka'i, and Lana'i.

In 2026, Jay received the ACM's Special Recognition Award - given infrequently and only when the awards committee identifies someone whose contributions to the community media field demand acknowledgment outside the regular categories. His career connects the portable-video activism of the 1970s to the continuing fight to keep community media open, local, and accountable to the people it serves.