(Brockville) – The Upper Canada District School Board has once again been recognized internationally for its communications excellence. The Board’s CREW (Communication, equitable distribution of Resources, Educational programs, and Wellness) Strategic Plan has won the prestigious Golden Achievement Award. The Board’s submission was recognized as an “exemplary public relations project.”
The submission met each of the four criteria:
- Research – Evidence of careful analysis of the need for the program, campaign, or activity and stated goals of the program or activity
- Analysis/Planning – Evidence of thoughtful planning to address the need for the program, campaign, or activity
- Communication/Implementation – Evidence that activities, including communication, were carried out as planned
- Evaluation – Evidence that an evaluation component was included in the development of the plan and carried out. The evaluation must include a way to measure success of the program, campaign, or activity and evidence of objective evaluation of communication techniques used.
In his recent book Getting By or Getting Better, noted educational researcher and author Wayne Hulley devoted an entire chapter to the Board’s 15-year CREW strategic plan. The plan has supported significant improvements in student achievement and has prompted site visits from educators from various parts of Canada and Britain.
Also, Upper Canada has been awarded three APEX Awards of Excellence. Last August a group of board employees designed and wrote the annual CREW Strategic Plan Handbook, which contains details for the CREW strategic charters (projects) that are designed to support teaching for learning. Members of the group were Amanda Nieman, Jen McMaster, Marnie Lindsay, Chris Boston, Mark Williams, Trish Brown, Nancy Hanna, David Thomas and Mark Calder.
“I’m proud of the great work this team put together to better communicate our strategic plan both internally and externally through the production of these materials,” outlined Nancy Hanna, team leader for the project. “The APEX Award confirms that we have tremendous talent around the table; people who offered their personal time last summer to ensure that a professional job was completed in a very tight time frame.”
The Board’s Director’s Annual Report DVD won the only APEX Award of Excellence in the category ‘Most Improved Annual Reports’. This is the third consecutive year that Upper Canada’s Director’s Annual Report has won an APEX Award of Excellence.
Another video produced by the Board’s communications department also won the APEX Award of Excellence. In the ‘Education & Training Electronic & Video Publications’ category the Board’s Wellness for All video was recognized. The video features details on a number of wellness initiatives at Upper Canada including Quality Daily Physical Education, the Froglogic Program at East Front Public School and the Board’s many community partnerships including those with the two regional health units.
Of the nearly 3,785 award entries only 1,158 Awards of Excellence were presented.
The Board’s Manager of Communications, Terry Simzer, is particularly proud of winning a third consecutive APEX Award for the Director’s Annual Report video. “We are one of very few school boards in North America to produce an annual report on video. While it is a huge undertaking, it provides an impressive overview of the numerous successes by students and staff at Upper Canada.” The video is available for viewing on the Board’s Web site at www.ucdsb.on.ca.
Both of the board’s award-winning videos were produced in collaboration with James Brodie Productions Inc. of Unionville. Company owner Jim Brodie stated: "I continue to marvel at how imaginative, determined and intelligent this Board is toward "getting it right" for their students. The alignment of all the members of your organization to draw out the best from their students has always been inspiring to me as a parent with a child in the public system.
You go beyond merely shoveling information into kids. You help them discover and refine their own special gifts and guide those who get lost onto a path they can manage and enjoy. I'm grateful this year to have had the opportunity to document some of these stories. Congratulations on this well deserved recognition!"
APEX 2009 – the 21st Annual Awards for Publication Excellence – is an international competition that recognizes outstanding publications from newsletters and magazines to annual reports, brochures and Web sites. The awards were based on excellence in graphic design, quality of editorial content and the success of the entry in conveying the message and achieving overall communications effectiveness."
About the APEX Awards
The APEX Awards for Publication Excellence is an annual competition for writers, editors, publications staff and business and non-profit communicators. It is sponsored by Communications Concepts, Inc., publishers of business communication reports, including Writing That Works, a subscription monthly for professional communicators, and special reports on topics such as Writing for the WEB.
In the Twenty-first Annual APEX Awards, awards were given in 122 communications subcategories, in 11 major categories including: newsletters; magazines and journals; magapapers and newspapers; annual reports; brochures, manuals and reports; video and electronic publications; Web and Intranet sites; campaigns, programs and plans; writing; design and illustration; and special publications. Details can be found at the Apex Awards Web site – www.apexawards.com.
About the NSPRA Golden Achievement Awards
The 2009 Golden Achievement Award is designed as a major recognition program for great activities, regardless of the number of entries. Each entry is judged individually against the contest criteria - not against other entries.
Examples of activities, programs, and projects that should be considered for this award include:
- Back-to-school orientation programs
- Series of publications designed to accomplish a specific purpose
- Community outreach for programs to build understanding of schools
- Finance election campaigns
- Series of media relations activities
- Staff and student recognition
- Internal communication programs
- School activities, programs, or projects in the community
- Marketing campaigns (i.e. enrollment, recruitment, special/alternate school programs, schools of choice, community education, or other special efforts)
- Series of radio or television public service announcements
- Community involvement efforts for volunteers/advisory councils, coalitions, non-parents, etc.
- Anniversary celebrations
- Business-school partnerships
- Public engagement initiatives
- Podcasting or other new media initiatives
- Activities, programs, or projects that promote "Going Green" (environmental campaigns)
Other details are available at the NSPRA Web site – www.nspra.org.
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For more information please call:
Terry Simzer
Manager of Communications
(613) 342-0371 x. 1119