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This article was written after the 1998 Communications Contest. We also won again in 2000 and 2002!! Click here to see the full story and even to download a complete edition of the newsletter. |
United Way of America announced that Valley United Way won two achievement awards in its 1998 Communications Contest. The Contest is an annual event. Hundreds of United Ways from throughout the 1,400 member United Way system submit entries in 16 different categories. The judges are professionals in the fields of marketing and communications.
Valley United Way was awarded a First Place in the Newsletter@ category and a Second Place in the Web Site category. "We compete against United Ways of somewhat similar size. The United Ways in our group included those that raise less than $4,000,000,@ said Vince Palacino, Assistant Director and Campaign Director. "This year, we were particularly proud of what has been done with our Newsletter, thanks to the generous support of Ascom Hasler Mailing Systems. Ascom made their advertising agency, McCurdy & Partners, and their creative agency, Melanie Thomson Creative Design, available to us to help us redesign and produce our newsletter and its companion piece In Brief,@ Palacino added.
"All of us connected with Valley United Way are so very proud of having gotten this national recognition," said Carol Aimone, Board President. "Without the generous support of Mike Allocca, a Board member and President of Ascom Hasler Mailing Systems, we would not have been able to have made the changes in our newsletter and other materials that we have. Mike has made the company's advertising agency, McCurdy & Partners of Wallingford, and creative agency, Melanie Thomson Creative Designs of Newington, available to us to redesign our newsletter and to rework all of our campaign and marketing materials," she continued. "And, all of this help was provided at no cost to Valley United Way.""We owe a great debt to Mike and Ascom Hasler for their generous support. Our Marketing Committee deserves a special thank you as well. They spearheaded the effort reworking all of our communications materials into a consistent image," Aimone added. The Marketing Committee includes Linda Gentile, a United Way Board Member, Lorraine Kiliany of Rhodia, Inc., Brian McCoy of Pilot Pen, Jane Winkler from Iroquois Gas Transmission System, Mike Vujnovich from Ascom Hasler, Joseph Andreana of GTE, and Valley United Way Staffer, Vince Palacino.
The award for the Web Site is especially gratifying as Valley United Way was the first United Way in Connecticut to establish a presence on the Web and still maintains the largest and most up-to-date site of any United Way in the state. The United Way pages also served as the prototype for the successful Electronic Valley site which is now linking all of the Valley towns in a collaborative information sharing initiative. Jack Walsh, Executive Director of Valley United Way noted that, "Our involvement on the Web is due to the generosity of John Joy of VFR Computing who had the foresight to offer to host our pages which grew to become the Electronic Valley. This is just another way in which Valley United Way is constantly looking for new and innovative ways to communicate with our Valley constituents".
Valley United Way was the only United Way in the state to capture more than one award in the national competition. United Way of the Capital Area won a first prize in the Annual Report category.
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