JACKSON – Two rural electric cooperatives serving southwest Minnesota recently received recognition in a national awards program.
Federated Rural Electric, Jackson; and Brown County Rural Electrical Association, Sleepy Eye; recently received recognition in the “Spotlight on Excellence” program sponsored by the Council of Rural Electric Communicators and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Federated and BCREA received a Gold Award in the Best External News Publication category for the Connections newsletter for electric cooperatives under 20,000 members.
Andrea Christoffer, Federated’s marketing & communications manager; Steve Ruthenbeck, Federated’s communications specialist, and Marcia Solie, BCREA’s member services manager; create the award-winning newsletter.
Connections is a shared monthly newsletter for the two cooperatives.
“The judges noted that electric cooperatives are being challenged to communicate to the people they serve more than ever,” said Scott Peterson, senior vice president communications for NRECA. “Printed news publications, news releases, social media and videos are all more important to keep members updated on issues affecting the electric cooperatives and their member-owners.”
This is the 17th time that a Federated member-owner newsletter has won a Spotlight national award. Gold awards were awarded to those entries scoring 90 points or more, while Silver winners scored 80 points or more in the finite scoring system.
“Once again it is truly an honor to be a part of this award-winning team,” stated Federated General Manager Scott Reimer. “Andrea and Steve understand the value of relevant, timely and quality communications to our members and make that a priority. Our industry is ever changing and they do a stellar job in keeping member-owners informed. They continue to exceed our expectations and help us all with better communications strategy. Congratulations Andrea and Steve!”
A special reception honored the award recipients during the CONNECT ‘22 Conference in Seattle May 3-5. Winning entries were displayed during the event.
The annual competition recognizes the top-rated communication and marketing efforts by electric cooperatives and related organizations.
Entrants competed with electric cooperatives of similar size in 18 categories. Electric cooperative communicators and marketing professionals submitted more than 600 entries in the Spotlight on Excellence program.
Faculty members from the University of Missouri — Columbia, and the University of South Carolina, as well as noted professionals in the fields of marketing, newspapers, web design and digital communications judged the event.
The Council of Rural Electric Communicators was organized in 1982 and seeks to advance the recognition, education and professionalism of electric cooperative communicators and their affiliated organizations. It is a volunteer association working on behalf of more than 4,000 electric cooperative communicators across the United States.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the service organization representing the national interests of cooperative electric utilities, coordinates the Council’s activities. Federated serves 6,900 member-owners, while BCREA serves 4,500.