NAGC Communicator of the Year
The Call for Nominations for the 2012 NAGC Communicator of the Year will be announced later this year.
2011 Winner | About the Award | Eligiblity Criteria | Past Winners
News Release: NAGC Awards Communicator of the Year to Adm. Thad
Allen, U.S. Coast Guard (05/11/11)
NAGC Announces 2011 Communicator of the Year Award
(02/14/11) The NAGC Board of Directors has announced that Adm. Thad Allen has been named the "NAGC 2011 Communicator of the Year" for his work
during the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill response. He will be accepting the award during the 2011 NAGC Communications School, May 9-12, 2011, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Adm. Allen was nominated for this award for his effective communication as the National Incident Commander during this crisis. It had world-wide interest from the very beginning and continues to be a compelling event. As Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, he was in the forefront of the incident as his agency responded quickly to the April 20 explosion with search and rescue operations and then oil spill response actions and marine environmental protection efforts.
As media outlets from around the globe focused on the Gulf of Mexico, the attention and scrutiny paid to the incident was continuous. Adm. Allen made himself available to the media, and thereby the world, on a seemingly round-the-clock basis to provide information on the response efforts, successfully managing crisis communication efforts on the enormous scale required for the response efforts.
About the NAGC Communicator of the Year Award
Each year NAGC seeks your help in finding a government communicator who has helped instill public trust by effectively presenting accurate, timely and meaningful information. Thinking back over 2009, who do you believe has been the most effective in delivering a government organization's message? We encourage you to nominate that person as NAGC's Communicator of the Year.
Eligiblity Criteria
The following is the eligibility criteria for nominating an individual for the Communicator of the Year award:
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The individual must have communicated the message for a government entity during the designated calendar year. The nomination may be centered around one project or for a body of work during the year.
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The individual must have generated substantive media coverage for his or her government entity.
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The individual must have been in compliance with the NAGC Code of Ethics in performing government duties with truth, accuracy, fairness, responsibility and accountability to the public.
- The individual may be an NAGC member or non-member. (NAGC national board members are ineligible.)
Past Winners
The winner of the Communicator of the Year award is presented the award at NAGC's Communications School. Past winners include:
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Linda Wilson, Missouri Department of Transportation I-64 Community Relations
Manager. Some of us think we take on hard assignments when asked to communicate to the employees of our agencies, but consider how diffi cult it would be to communicate the less than welcome message of closing down a major interstate highway to 2.5 million residents of a metropolitan region. This was the task Community Relations Manager Linda Wilson undertook when the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) decided it was time to replace 10 miles of Interstate 64 in St. Louis. And this is why Wilson was selected the 2010 Communicator of the Year by the National Association of Government Communicators. Read more in the August 2010 NAGC Communicator. -
David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, for sounding the warning about government finances
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Max Mayfield, National Hurricane Center director
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Sidney Coffee, Director of America's WETLAND Campaign, for work warning about potential hurricane damage around the Gulf Coast
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Charles Moose, Montgomery County Police Chief, for his calm presence during the sniper investigation in Maryland
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Steve Davis, spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, during the Columbine High School tragedy