As publisher of The Fulcrum, I am proud to announce that the television special, 50 Voices of a Nation, has earned a Silver Telly Award. This prestigious win at the 47th Annual Telly Awards recognizes excellence in video and television across all screens.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The television special is the result of a powerful collaboration between The Fulcrum and Chicago Access Network Television (CAN-TV), expanding on our documentary series The 50: Voices of a Nation. A four-year multimedia initiative led by The Fulcrum, Executive Editor Hugo Balta, travels to communities across every state to uncover what motivated Americans to vote in the 2024 presidential election. Through in-depth storytelling, the project examines how the Donald Trump administration is responding to those hopes and concerns—and highlights civic-focused organizations that inform, educate, and empower the public to take action.
Established in 1979, the Telly Awards began by recognizing excellence in local, regional, and cable television commercials. Over the decades, as the media environment evolved, so did the award, expanding to celebrate non-broadcast video, documentaries, branded content, immersive events, and the full spectrum of digital storytelling. Today, the Tellys receive more than 13,000 entries from six continents and from all 50 states, representing the work of leading advertising agencies, television stations, production companies, and publishers worldwide.
This recognition is deeply meaningful. It affirms the power of journalism that listens first, centers community voices, and documents civic life as it is lived, not as it is theorized. It also honors the extraordinary work of Hugo, the creator, producer, and interviewer behind the series. Hugo has poured his skill, empathy, and journalistic rigor into shaping The 50 into a moving, ongoing documentary project.
The first year of episodes uncovers a vibrant tapestry of American stories, showing just how diverse and interconnected our experiences truly are. The journey began in Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s most closely watched battlegrounds in the 2024 presidential election. There, we spoke with Republican Michael Rivera, a Berks County commissioner, about the rapid policy shifts coming from Washington, D.C., and their impact on local residents — especially Reading’s immigrant community. Rivera emphasized that the nation’s broken immigration system needs meaningful reform to support both families and the economy. “There are more job openings than there are people able to fill those jobs,” he said. “We’re not going to birth our way out of that. The way we’re going to do that is through people coming in through legal immigration. So, the laws here in the United States do need to be improved.”
In the Midwest, our journey took us to Milwaukee, Wisconsin — a city long shaped by debates over public safety and policing. There, a growing grassroots movement is reframing the conversation by asking a simple but transformative question: What if safety came from investing in people rather than punishment? In Milwaukee, Hugo sat down with LiberateMKE, a coalition of community organizers, artists, and policy advocates pushing to shift resources away from the police department and toward housing, mental‑health care, youth programs, and violence‑prevention efforts. Their work highlights a broader reimagining of what communities need to feel safe and thrive.
In the West, our journey brought us to Cheyenne — Wyoming’s capital and a symbolic gateway to the American frontier, where rugged heritage meets enduring civic pride. There, Hugo sat down with Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, who described how ranchers regularly meet with lawmakers to discuss land use, water rights, and regulatory policy. These gatherings are far more than tradition; they’re essential forums where rural voices directly shape state decision‑making.
These stories—and the many more to come—are the heart of The 50 Voices of a Nation. They remind us that democracy is not an abstraction. It is lived every day in neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and community centers across the country.
We are honored by this Telly Award, and even more honored to continue elevating the voices of Americans whose stories shape our shared future. The best way to appreciate the depth of this project is to hear directly from the people themselves. I invite you to watch the first 16 episodes of The 50:
The 50 youtube.com
I also invite you to join the conversation: share your own story or suggest a community or topic you think we should feature in future episodes by emailing us at newsroom@thefulcrum.us. Your voice can help shape the journey as we continue to listen, learn, and elevate perspectives from across the nation.
Projects like The 50 thrive because of community support — please consider making a donation to help ensure real voices continue to be heard and shared across the nation. Click HERE to keep powerful, community‑driven storytelling alive.
Hugo Balta was also recognized with a Bronze Telly Award as co-host of CAN-TV’s Chicago Newsroom 2.0: Congressional District Candidate Town Halls in the General-Government Relations category!
Balta is the executive editor of The Fulcrum and the publisher of the Latino News Network.
David NevinsYou is the publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."