Local government plays an important role in keeping communities connected and keeping communities informed of council activities, initiatives and priority updates. As a sector, we have reached a critical moment in the convergence of digital, media, communications and customer service.
At this year’s inaugural ‘LGx’ communication and media forum, we sought to recognise innovation and excellence across the broad spectrum of communication and media in local government with some new awards to celebrate the success of our members.
The LGx ‘Recognition of Best Practice’ awards were an opportunity for members to showcase the work of their communication teams, gaining recognition through acknowledgement as an ‘exemplar of better practice’ or as ‘a leader in innovation and excellence in communication at a local government level’. It is hoped the Awards will enable members to share acknowledgement and celebrate success with residents, managers, staff, and perhaps more importantly, contribute to sector improvement by sharing better practices that can be adopted by others.
The judging panel consisted of campaign and creative agency experts, along with a media specialist to ensure each nomination was assessed independently according to their merits and without favour. The selection panel were impressed by the quality of the nominations which made the task of selecting the ‘best of the best’ so much more challenging.
The nominations were as varied as the councils that submitted them.
Best social media campaign was awarded to Sunshine Coast Council for their ‘Welcoming the Commonwealth’ campaign. In the lead up to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Sunshine Coast was abuzz with visiting athletes and council used this opportunity to their advantage – taking their region to the world by engaging directly with athletes and teams. The judges said their submission showed what a great campaign can look like when you have abundant content to share. Access to the athletes and the foresight in engaging the international teams to share their own content was very well thought through and would no doubt have a great impact on tourism to the region.
Logan City Council and the Queensland Police Service delivered a joint crime prevention campaign ‘Phones Down, Eyes Up’ and were presented the Best Collaboration award. The campaign objective was to reduce robbery offences near train stations by using social media to raise awareness of personal safety. During the campaign period, they achieved a 35% reduction in reported offences. By establishing the facts about the incidences of reported robberies, the judges pointed out, this campaign addressed a very serious community issue and encouraged the public to be more situationally aware.
The Best Creative Campaign was awarded to Townsville City Council for their innovative ‘Litter-ally improving waste’ campaign. Using ‘real council people’ to deliver a serious message in a humorous manner about waste disposal, this style of communication resonated with the Townsville community serving as a platform for council to deliver campaigns into the future.
The final award, Best Communication / Digital Professional was a hotly contested category and ultimately awarded to two recipients that both reflected the best in local government communications; Whitsunday Regional Council’s Sarah Collins, and Townsville City Council’s Connor Wallace.
LGAQ Chief Exeuctive, Greg Hallam AM said "so much of the great work of Local Governments communication and media staff goes unheralded, these awards in some small way go to highlighting their significant contribution to the work of our sphere of government".
The LGx ‘Recognition of Best Practice’ will continue to grow into the future and we look forward to future nominations from councils.