Carroll Electric Membership Cooperative’s Communications Department received top awards from the 2016 Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) for various projects and campaigns during 2015. Carroll EMC was recognized during the NRECA Connect Conference in May and the CCA Institute in June.
“These awards represent a collective effort of every employee in our company,” said Jay Gill, Communications and Public Relations Manager for Carroll EMC. “At the end of the day, these programs that were recognized are actually about serving our Members and communities better.”
Carroll EMC was honored with a first place awards in the category of Miscellaneous Promotional and third place in the category of Campaigns and Programs during the CCA Annual Institute in Omaha, Nebraska. The cooperative was recognized for its promotional and advertising campaigns for Lineman Appreciation Day and Mobile Applications. Kelly Hester and Anitra Ellison of Carroll EMC attended the conference and were presented with the awards.
The cooperative also received top honors from the 2016 Spotlight on Excellence national awards program, sponsored by the Council of Rural Electric Communicators and NRECA. The Co-op received the Gold Award in the category of Wild Card for its Father’s Day campaign which featured linemen and their sons. The photos and captions were used in advertising and social media as well as internal communications for the company.
CCA is a non-profit organization of 350 professionals who communicate for cooperatives. The organization was founded more than 60 years ago and aims to improve the skills and effectiveness of all cooperative communicators. The 2016 contest drew 628 entries, including 201 in the writing division, 181 in photography, 128 in programs and projects and 118 in publications. Judges selected 140 submissions to receive awards. There were 71 individual winners representing 43 different cooperatives this year.
The annual Spotlight awards competition recognizes the top-rated communication and marketing efforts by electric cooperatives and related organizations and is NRECA’s highest communication honor. Participants in the awards competition competed with electric cooperatives of similar sizes in 19 categories. Gold winners scored 90 points or more in their category and classification, while Silver winners scored at least 80 points.