The City of Kannapolis and Cabarrus County Communications Departments were among 28 North Carolina governments to earn recognition in the 12th North Carolina City & County Communicators’ (NC3C) Excellence in Communications Awards.
The City of Kannapolis won two first-place awards in the categories of printed publications and marketing tools, and a second-place award for Most Creative Marketing for the Least Amount of Dollars Spent. Cabarrus County won a first place award for Best PEG/Streaming Government Channel and five second-place awards in the categories of Instructional video, regular programming, one-time special programming, videography and multi-platform campaign.
The awards were presented recently at NC3C’s annual Spring Conference in Durham. A total of 248 entries were received.
“It is my honor to congratulate all the winners of the NC3C Excellence in Communications contest this year. The work that city and county government communicators do is impressive and is worth recognizing,” said 2018-2019 President Dana Kaminske. “Being able to showcase the excellent talent, programs, writing, videos, photos, and more from our membership is exciting. This state-wide award program helps our profession to be the most creative, educational, and informative as we can be, using the latest technologies and resources.”
Categories included TV & Video, Communication Technology, Printed Publications, Most Creative Project for the Least Amount of Funds, Citizen Participation, and Marketing Tools.
Cabarrus County won a first place award for their general programming on Cabarrus County Television (CabCo TV), Spectrum Cable Channel 22. CabCo TV is the County’s only government television channel. Weekly programming highlights each of the cities in the county, as well as special events, programs, agencies and services of government.
The County received a second-place instructional video award for its “Successful Gardener” show on raised plant beds, produced in collaboration with the Cooperative Extension Office –. “Historical Moments - Early Movie Theaters in Cabarrus County,” earned second-place honors in the regular programming category. “Hearts and Heroes,” a video special on people saved from cardiac events by emergency responders in the County was also a second-place winner. Two more second-place honors were awarded in the videography and multi-platform campaign categories for “Storylines – Gifts of Life”, which features the story of Cabarrus Commissioner Lynn Shue’s two organ transplants, and the County’s work to deliver timely and transparent information on the FY2019 Budget process.
The City of Kannapolis received a first-place award in the category of printed publications for the Village Park Brochure. The brochure was developed to highlight the many amenities at the park, to be a one-stop shop for general information on the park and to showcase the City’s Discover a Healthy Life brand.
The City was also awarded first place honors in the category of marketing tools for the National League of Cities Presentation. Kannapolis was invited to present its Downtown Revitalization Project to the National League of Cities during their Fall 2018 Conference. The event included the development of marketing tools such as a speech by Mayor Darrell Hinnant, a handout on the project and a PowerPoint presentation.
The City received a second-place award in the category of Most Creative Marketing Event for the Least amount of Dollars Spent for the Sports and Entertainment Venue (SEV) Groundbreaking Ceremony. The event was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion to celebrate the construction of the SEV, to focus on the City’s commitment to invest downtown, and to showcase the City of Kannapolis in the national arena of downtown revitalization and minor league baseball.
Judges for the NC3C Excellence in Communications Awards were communication professionals from the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers and a variety of communications industries across the state.
The purpose of North Carolina City & County Communicators is to encourage professional development and networking among local governmental communications professionals. The organization was formed in March 2007 and is made up of government professional communicators from around the state. For more information about NC3C, visit the website,
www.nc3c.com.
All NC3C Award Winners
Dana Kaminske, NC3C President, Annette Privette Keller, City of Kannapolis Director of Communications, Melissa Loveless, City of Kannapolis Communications Specialist, and Rebecca Carter, Incoming NC3C President