Inside the 2026 What's So Cool About Manufacturing Lehigh Valley Awards

Thirty middle school teams, more than 1,100 people and a live WFMZ broadcast at Stabler Arena, covered by two photographers with a lit step and repeat for every winning team and the full gallery delivered the same night.

By Tony Ellis Martinez · TM Productions

Stabler Arena during the live awards show, with a red carpet running up the center aisle to a purple and gold stage — Stabler Arena during the live show, with the red carpet running up the center aisle to the stage.

What's So Cool About Manufacturing is the student video contest run by the Manufacturers Resource Center. Middle school teams partner with a local manufacturer for months, go inside the plant, interview the people who work there and turn it all into a short video about what gets made in their own backyard. The Lehigh Valley is where the contest started, and this year 30 middle schools from Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon and Monroe counties took part, with the public casting 321,908 votes for Viewers' Choice.

The awards show was Wednesday night, March 25, at Lehigh University's Stabler Arena, with more than 1,100 students, parents, teachers and manufacturers in the building and the whole program going out live on WFMZ. It was our second year covering the show for MRC, this time with two photographers, our own lit step and repeat for the winners and dual coverage of everything else, and MRC had the full gallery of 482 edited photos the same night.

30MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAMS

321,908VIEWERS' CHOICE VOTES

1,100+PEOPLE IN THE ARENA

482EDITED PHOTOS, SAME NIGHT

Before the doors opened

We got there early, because the empty-room frames are the ones an organizer uses next year to sell the event, and you only get one chance at them. The arena floor was set with a red carpet down the center aisle and a banner for every school hanging over the rows, the stage was dressed in the contest's purple and gold, and the trophies, a blue gear on top of a red robot arm, were lined up along the edge of the stage waiting for their teams. Out front, a Mack truck was parked at the Stabler entrance to greet everyone on the way in.

The entrance to Lehigh University's Stabler Athletic and Convocation Center — Lehigh University's Stabler Arena before the doors opened.

A custom Mack truck parked outside the Stabler Arena entrance — A Mack truck parked at the front entrance.

The empty arena floor with rows of chairs, a red carpet down the center aisle and school banners hanging over the rows — The floor before doors, with a banner for every school hanging over the rows.

A row of What's So Cool About Manufacturing trophies, blue gears on red robot arms, lined up on the stage — The trophies lined up along the edge of the stage.

The pre-show expo and cupcake competition

Before the program, the arena floor turned into an expo, with manufacturers, colleges and career programs set up at tables with things students could pick up and try, and the floor was packed with kids in VIP lanyards pulling their parents from one table to the next. We shot it from up in the stands first so you could see how packed the floor was, then got down at table height, because that's where the photos people actually share come from.

Culinary students from Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School, Carbon Career & Technical Institute, Career Institute of Technology and Lehigh Career & Technical Institute ran a dessert reception and cupcake competition with Northampton Community College's culinary and baking programs, and CIT took home the Sweet Manufacturing award for it. Honestly, those tables were some of the best-looking things in the building, so we made sure every one of them got photographed.

The pre-show expo filling the arena floor, seen from the stands — The pre-show expo filling the arena floor.

A group of students in VIP lanyards taking a selfie during the pre-show — A team getting its own shot during the pre-show.

A manufacturer showing students and a parent a hands-on demo at his table — Hands-on demos at the manufacturer tables.

A culinary school table in the cupcake competition with rows of decorated cupcakes — One of the culinary tables in the cupcake competition.

Close-up of orange and red frosted cupcakes on a wooden display — Cupcakes from the dessert reception, up close.

The awards show and the winners

The program started at 7 and went out live on WFMZ. MRC's Karen Buck, director of workforce initiatives, and LVEDC's Karianne Gelinas were both on the program, and Governor Josh Shapiro sent a video message. Buck said that broadcasting the show live from Lehigh "allows us to amplify the students' efforts," and with a broadcast running nobody gets to redo a handshake for the camera, so one of our photographers stayed on the stage side for the whole show and caught every award as it happened.

Twelve schools went home with awards, plus the cupcake award, and here is the full list with the manufacturer each team profiled.

Outstanding Overall ProgramSaucon Valley Middle School, featuring Crayola
Viewers' ChoiceSpringhouse Middle School, featuring Mack Trucks
Outstanding VideographyNazareth Area Middle School, featuring B. Braun Medical Inc.
Outstanding EditingLower Macungie Middle School, featuring Sharp
Outstanding CreativityNorthampton Area Middle School, featuring Polymer Contours, Inc.
Outstanding CoolEast Hills Middle School, featuring Just Born Quality Confections
Outstanding Team SpiritNorthwestern Lehigh Middle School, featuring FMI
Outstanding Educational ValueNortheast Middle School, featuring Ocean Spray
Outstanding Outreach PlanLehighton Area Middle School, featuring AMPAL, Inc.
Outstanding Brand PlacementCatasauqua Middle School, featuring Bosch Rexroth
Outstanding Career PathwayJ.T. Lambert Intermediate School, featuring Weiler Abrasives Group
Best Career & Technical Education StoryBroughal Middle School, featuring Stanley Black & Decker
Sweet Manufacturing (cupcakes)Career Institute of Technology

Saucon Valley's video about Crayola took Outstanding Overall Program, Springhouse won Viewers' Choice with Mack Trucks, and Nazareth Area took Outstanding Videography with B. Braun Medical, and all three of those teams placed again at the state finals in May.

Wide view of Stabler Arena from the upper corner, with the stands full and the stage lit purple — More than 1,100 people in the stands and on the floor for the live show.

The host speaking at the #WSCMLV podium in front of the purple and gold stage set — The host opening the show from the #WSCMLV podium.

The crowd with hands in the air as a presenter with a headset mic works the stage — The crowd with their hands up between awards.

How we covered it with two photographers

We planned this part of the night more than anything else, so with two photographers, one of us stayed on the show the entire time, covering every award, every walk to the stage and every reaction in the seats. The other ran a step and repeat we set up with our own lights, so the second a team came off the stage with its trophy, it walked straight into a clean, lit portrait in front of the contest's logo wall.

Some of the best photos of the night came from that backdrop, with teams holding up their "on to states" signs, one group showing up with rubber chickens and one student throwing both arms straight up the second he got there. Those are the photos schools and parents actually post and print, and a contest that runs on public votes needs them out there.

Three students holding an 'Our team is on to states' sign and their trophy at the step and repeat — A team headed to the state finals, straight off the stage and onto the step and repeat.

A student with both arms in the air celebrating at the step and repeat — A student celebrating at the step and repeat.

A winning team posing with rubber chickens, signs and a trophy at the step and repeat — A winning team with rubber chickens, signs and their trophy at the step and repeat.

A parent taking a phone photo of a team at the step and repeat — Parents grabbing their own shot at the step and repeat.

Delivering the gallery

MRC had all 482 edited photos the same night, sorted into the details, the pre-show, the live show, the posed portraits and the step and repeat, so every school could find its own team without scrolling through everyone else's. When the show's on TV and every school district has it on Facebook by the next morning, nobody's going to wait a week for photos.

The state finals in May

Four Lehigh Valley teams moved on to the statewide Best of PA finals in Harrisburg on May 13, and three of them, Nazareth Area, Saucon Valley and Springhouse, came home with first place, second place and statewide Viewers' Choice, and we photographed that show too.

Thanks to Karen Buck and the MRC team for having us back, congratulations to every team that made a video this year, and we'll see you at next year's show.

Contest figures, winners and quotes via MRC, WFMZ 69 News, WFMZ's winners list and LVEDC. Photos by TM Productions.