DETROIT, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A dozen winners of the 2012 IABC Silver Quill Awards will be recognized at the 2012 IABC Heritage Region Conference, being held October 14-16 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Entries for the 2012 program were submitted from throughout the United States.
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The Silver Quill awards are presented to outstanding communications professionals who have proven that their communication programs effectively furthered the goals of their organizations—boosting revenues, reducing cost and driving audiences toward a desired action. The awards program is open to IABC members and non-members.
"We are pleased to announce the winners of our popular annual awards competition," said Heritage Region Director Gary Spondike. The Heritage Region Silver Quill program recognizes organizational communication excellence, saluting quality communication programs and skills that reach through many media and organizations. With a geographic reach that is larger than most chapters but smaller than IABC International's awards programs, Silver Quill awards have been offered through the IABC Heritage Region for seven years, and throughout the Region's predecessor districts for many years prior."
The competition evaluated work in categories ranging from communication management to communication skills and creative elements. The judging team was comprised of 26 individuals located in six areas of the Region. The judges represented a mix of former Silver Quill chairpersons and award winners, accredited IABC members, IABC leaders and other professional leaders. Judges' evaluations were based on work plans, creative execution and measurement of each entry, along with considerations of the effectiveness of the programs' strategies, objectives and results.
Entrants may win awards of Excellence or Merit by accumulating judging points and pre-determined total evaluation scores. In this system of judging, it is possible for more than one person to win the same award, and also for no one to win an award in some categories.
Spondike emphasized, "It's the quality of the entries that is valued, not the number of projects entered in a category. That's what is important in Silver Quill. Our program uses time-tested judging guidelines that were gleaned from IABC successful International Gold Quill competition and honed by Heritage Region Silver Quill leadership. Judges do not evaluate entries from any members within their own chapters or from anyone who they might know otherwise."
Spondike added, "Recognition is always appreciated on the job and among one's peers. But the true value of the competition, many find, is that by considering judges' evaluations, entries can be improved, possibly even for use in IABC's Accreditation and Gold Quill recognition programs."
The Winners
Awards of Excellence recipients:
- The Dow Chemical Company Performance Plastics Division, Chicago, for "The Roadmap to Recovery," internal communications programs;
- Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, for Forefront, "Public Finances: Shining Light on a Dark Corner -- new ideas on economic policy," publications/magazines;
- Allegra Network, Michigan, for "Marketing Insider," publications/magazines;
- McGraw Wentworth and College for Creative Studies, Troy, Michigan, for "2012 Benefit Enrollment Guide," publication design/brochure and leaflets;
- NRG Energy, Meredith Moore, Charlie Waterfall, Jay Hodgkins, and Michele Tsai, Princeton, N.J., for "The Point: NRG 2011 Annual Report," publications design/annual reports;
- CVS Caremark and Buck Consultants , Atlanta, GA, for "CVS Caremark Corporation Targeted Future Fund Communication," benefits communication; and,
- Hilton Hotel and Resorts, McLean, VA, for "Stay Hilton, Go Out: Hilton Targets LGBT Travelers With Pride," customer relations.
Awards of Merit recipients:
- Fidelity Investments, Alison Cordray and University of California, William Ryan, San Francisco, CA, for "UC Financial Education Program," benefits communication;
- Connecticut Health Investigative Team (C-HIT) and author Barbara Puffer, ABC, New Haven, CT, for "Is Myriad's Patent on Breast Cancer Genes Valid?" news writing;
- Enterprise, Columbia, MD, for "Enterprise Integrated Website and Intranet," electronic and digital communication;
- Allegra Network, Plymouth, MI, for ""Marketing Insider," publication design/magazines; and,
- Puffer Public Relations Strategies, Fort Myers Beach, Florida, for Bristol Adult Resource Center, "Together We Are Better," special publications.
The 2012 IABC Heritage Region Silver Quill award winners will be recognized with a winners' display at the Heritage Region conference in Pittsburgh, online visibility, and publicity.
For more information on IABC Heritage Region or the Silver Quill Awards, please visit the region's website.
About IABC Heritage Region
The IABC Heritage Region represents more than 3,200 business communicators from 20 chapters throughout the Northeast and Midwest United States. Formed in 2005, IABC Heritage Region supports the IABC mission by providing guidance, support and professional development opportunities for chapter leaders and members; fostering Region growth; and serving as a communication conduit between members, chapters and the IABC Executive Board. The geographic area includes: Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia. For more information on the region, visit http://heritageregion.iabc.com.
Contact:
Anthony DeFazio
IABC Heritage Region
Communications Director
484-532-7783
tony@defaziocommunications.com
SOURCE IABC Heritage Region