The City of Kannapolis was among 19 North Carolina governments to earn recognition in the North Carolina City & County Communicators’ (NC3C) 2021 Excellence in Communications Awards. The City of Kannapolis won a first-place award in the category of graphic design for the “Wear A Mask” COVID Campaign. The City also won a second-place honor for the social media post and campaign honoring Mrs. Dot Cole on her 107th birthday and recognition as the Oldest Living U.S. Marine.
The awards were announced in conjunction with NC3C’s virtual 2021 annual conference. All 168 award program entries were judged by professional communications peers from the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators.
“Congratulations to all the winners. You deserve your award, and you deserve to be recognized for your hard work,” said NC3C President Joshua Harris, City of Lenoir, NC. “Communications is an important part of local government operations, and one goal of NC3C is to recognize those communicators across the state who create great content and help keep our citizens informed. Keep up the good work. You make me proud to be part of NC3C.”
The graphic design, “Wear A Mask,” was part of a countywide effort that was launched as soon as the mask mandates from the CDC and the state were issued. The City of Kannapolis, worked closely with the Cabarrus County, the City of Concord, the Cabarrus Health Alliance and the Towns of Harrisburg, Mt. Pleasant and Midland to design and promote the “Wear A Mask” campaign with all of the Mayors and the County Commission Chair. The graphics and campaign were basically launched within 24 hours of the mandate. It was received positively by the public and the news media including front page coverage in local newspapers and coverage by regional television stations. Judges recognized this design for it color, to the point message and the ability to produce it quickly as the county and cities worked rapidly to react to the pandemic restrictions.
The social media campaign in honor of Mrs. Dot Cole revolved around images of her time spent in the military, interviews with her and her family. The campaign resulted in national attention from multiple media outlets, such as Newsweek and Southern Living Magazine, and special recognition from the U.S. Marine Corp. One post had a reach of 100,000 within a few days. The post was recognized by the judges as demonstrating how a City can in showing compassion for citizens especially in the midst of COVID when a more public recognition could not be done.
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 consists of professional government communicators from around the state. For more information about NC3C, visit www.nc3c.com.