(01/16/18)

By Kim Nix, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Happy New Year to each of you! Before you forget 2017, though, take some time to review the projects you completed and decide which ones to enter in the ACI Awards Competition. The annual competition that honors the best of what we all do will open later this month, so be on the lookout for the announcement.

The ACI Awards serve double duty: recognition among your peers, and feedback from the judges on your work. Last year ACI transitioned to an online entry process, and we had a record number of entries. Currently the cost is $40 per entry, and each state is billed in arrears, so you don’t have to worry about payment up front.

Last year’s winning entries are online at http://bit.ly/2u0z3jr. If you are not familiar with the awards, this will give you insight to the categories and types of entries received.

This year’s Awards Chair is Blake Podhajsky with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. He is working diligently behind the scenes to get the online platform ready to accept entries, but there is one area where he needs help.

The awards can’t happen without qualified judges to review all the entries. Ideally, we need 87 judges to review the entries. We will be reaching out to last year’s judges, but new ones are always needed. If you know of a professional communicator who might be willing to serve as a judge for one of the categories, please contact Blake at blake.podhajsky@odwc.ok.gov and let him know.