The bookshelves in the Howard County Library System (HCLS) will need to make room between titles to display some impressive awards.
Three of the library’s recent communications efforts received international recognition by the Association of Marketing and Communications
Professionals at the 2017 Hermes Creative Awards. The contest, which honors creative professionals who conceive, write and design traditional materials and emerging technologies, received more than 6,000 sub¬missions from a wide array of applicants, including corporate marketing and communication departments and freelancers. The awards have 195 categories arranged under advertising, publications, marketing/branding, integrated marketing, public relations/communications, electronic and pro bono.
The organization’s top honor, a platinum award, was given to the library for its yearlong HCLS Now! public relations campaign designed to introduce patrons to the growing catalog of new eContent materials available online. The series of 12 testimonial ads featured HCLS employees.
HCLS earned a gold award in the portrait/ photography category for their ‘Source’ magazine cover photo of organic farmer and “New York Times” bestselling author Forrest Pritchard at his farm in Berryville, Va. Pritchard was part of the library’s Meet the Author event in the fall 2016. An hon¬orable mention award went to an episode of HCLS’s HiJinx, a monthly podcast dedicated to educating patrons about upcoming library events and curriculum.
The three HCLS award winning projects were created and executed by the library’s in-house public relations team.
