Round Rock Garners Multiple Awards For Its Communications Efforts

ROUND ROCK, TX -- The City of Round Rock is known for its transparency and penchant for communicating with members of the public. Recently, that reputation was officially confirmed. 

Round Rock garnered nine awards, including five first-place trophies, for excellence in communications at the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers annual conference on Friday, June 9, in Arlington.

First place awards were given for:

• Internal Communications for the Police Department's PD-43 videos. "The videos share important information in a quick and energizing manner," city officials said. "PD-43 is viewed through a private video channel and on monitors throughout police headquarters. Officers can easily view the program on mobile devices as well."
• Recurring Special Event  for the city's annual Hometown Halloween in Downtown Round Rock. "As the first ever Halloween-focused community event, the Hometown Halloween celebration set a precedent to showcase Downtown Round Rock’s ability to host a well-organized, homegrown festival where the treats are sweet and the activities are far from tricky."
• Special Publication (population above 100,000)  for the city's Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Sports Center facility guide. The publication was created by the Round Rock CVB as a facility guide for the Round Rock Sports Center. "The guide was aimed at sports events planners all over the nation, who have the ability to bring an indoor sporting tournament to Round Rock," city officials explained. "The guide features beautiful, bold photography of the inside and outside of the Round Rock Sports Center. In addition, the guide contains clear sheets inside that represent the different floor plan configurations for volleyball, basketball and NCAA basketball courts within the center."
• Regular and Recurring Video (population 80,000-150,000) for Street Cred, a monthly snapshot of the city’s work to improve transportation. "The videos, which the city posts on social media sites as well as its government access channel, also give residents a chance to ask questions or comment on our transportation efforts," officials said.
• Public Service Announcement, Marketing (population 100,000 and above) for the Library Summer Reading Program promotional video. "The theme for the 2015 program was Bam! Pow! READ!, and the video featured comic-book style graphics to grab the attention of viewers young and old," officials explained on the municipal website.

In addition to those first-place awards, Round Rock won second place in the Best Use of Social Media (population 70,000 to 125,000) category for its Rockin’ Tweets -- live, succinct tweets from city council meetings delivered in an accessible manner suffused with a "fun, casual voice," city officials said.
The city also won three third-place trophies for: Print Report (population 75,000 and above) for our Arts Facility Master Plan report; Websites (population 100,000 and above) for roundrocktexas.gov; and Most Creative with Least Dollars for Downtown Round Rock’s Donut Drop campaign, which rewarded motorists stuck in construction traffic with a bag of doughnut holes.