GCS Wins National Communications Awards

Guilford County Schools (GCS) received 10 national awards for outstanding communication projects completed within the last year. The National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) recognized the GCS District Relations Department with seven Publications and Electronic Media Awards and three Golden Achievement Awards.

The district received seven Publications and Electronic Media Awards. In the excellence in writing category, "Don't Wait-Act," an article written for the American School Board Journal, received an award of excellence. The article "Mission Critical," received an award of merit. In addition, the articles "Demographic Shifts Require Changes in School Communication" and "GCS Records Lowest Dropout Rate of Largest N.C. Districts," received honorable mentions.

The GCS Insider, which reaches more than 10,000 employees every month, received an award of merit for electronic newsletter/newsletter podcast. The marketing of the district's annual magnet fair also received an award of merit. "Choose GCS," a video produced by GCSTV 2, won honorable mention in the audio/visual programs presentations category.

The district received Golden Achievement Awards for three programs. One was the event Celebrating Excellence in Education, which recognized 16 schools that demonstrated the greatest academic improvements during the last school year. GCS also received Golden Achievement Awards for the State of Our Schools event and the launch of the district's social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. The programs were judged on the effectiveness of their research, evaluation, planning and implementation. A total of 90 school communications projects from across the country received Golden Achievement Awards.

The competition is open to public school districts of all sizes nationwide. NSPRA is a professional association that provides training, services and resources for school district communication. In the Publications and Electronic Media Awards, 391 entries from across the country received awards out of 769 submissions. There were 90 Golden Achievement Award recipients.