Insights on local government communication

DandeLions Digital Receives National Award

Written by Molly Rooney | July 30, 2019

Arlington, VA – 06/26/2019 – The Media Borough Monthly eNews has been named a Second Place Winner in the eNewsletter category in the National Association of Government Communicators Blue Pencil and Gold Screen Awards program. The award recognizes superior government communication products and those who produce them. NAGC named the 2019 award winners at the NAGC 2019 Communications School in Sterling, Virginia (https://nagc.com/2019-communications-school/), the only event of its kind that provides invaluable networking opportunities and practical educational sessions to help government agency communicators enhance engagement with citizens and stakeholders. The Media Borough monthly eNews is an emailed newsletter with a reach of over 16,000 people per month. 

In 2018, Media Borough recognized a need to enhance communications with residents and visitors. They needed a better way to share information about borough improvements, news, and events. For many years, the borough distributed a twice-yearly newsletter while maintaining a website, Facebook page, and Twitter feed. These tasks seem small but can sometimes be overwhelming for smaller organizations. While local municipal information was shared in earnest, it was often difficult for residents to find and failed to reach much of its intended audience. With its current rate of growth, the Media Borough Council knew they needed to inform a growing population more effectively.

Recognizing this need, the council contacted Dandelions Digital to help them organize a communications plan, the keystone of which is the monthly Media Borough eNews. Since the implementation of Dandelions Digital’s upgrades, the borough has noticed an increase in user traffic to the website by 55%. The subscription rate to the digital borough newsletter has increased by over 500% percent, and social media reach for the digital newsletter is 16,000 to 20,000 views per month.

In addition, with the advertisement of Borough events, participation in community events has increased. Most importantly, the Media eNewsletter gets government news out on time so that residents can stay updated on the happenings in Media Borough. 

“This annual national awards program recognizes superior government communication products and those who produce them,” said NAGC President Chris O’Neil. “The Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Awards honors the creative excellence of federal, state, and local government communicators and demonstrates to those who use our services we produce high quality and effective products,” he added.

The Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Awards competition opens at the end of November each year. Professional communicators are judges from around the country who volunteer their time and talent to team up and judge the categories. Award winners and Communications School participants are recognized during a special banquet at the annual school.

About NAGC

The National Association of Government Communicators is dedicated to advocating, promoting and recognizing excellence in government communication. NAGC is dedicated to providing opportunities for individual professional development and career advancement, enhancing effective communication with constituents, and advancing the profession of government communication. The principal purpose of NAGC is to advance communication as an essential professional resource at every level of local, state, tribal and national government. The NAGC has members from coast to coast, Canada and Europe, at all levels of government. Moreover, the NAGC is vigorous and vital, and continues to grow, both in membership and prestige as well as in its ability to speak for and work for the interest of government communications and government communicators, supporting the interests which all constituents have in honest, open and effective government communications. Click here to visit their website and learn more: https://nagc.com/

About Dandelions Digital

Dandelions Digital specializes in a different type of clientele in the belief that digital marketing can especially enhance communication and engagement for municipalities and nonprofits. Dandelions Digital provides very personal and comprehensive digital marketing services that center on the client’s branding and messaging; working closely with their clients to ensure content is timely, on point and relevant to their audience. Dandelions Digital’s goal is to reach and engage audiences through content creation, emailed newsletters and social media posts that spread the brand’s voice across all channels. Dandelions Digital informs the client’s already engaged audience, helps grow their audience and provides a full service experience with sound digital measurements of growth from website analytics, to social media likes, followers and comments.