A message from IABC Nashville President Kerry Burke:

As you may be aware, we sadly had to postpone our virtual Music City Gold Pen Awards ceremony last week due to cyber security issues. This was an extremely unfortunate occurrence, and does not reflect our organization, nor does it take away from the accomplishments of the award winners. I’m proud of our board’s quick response in getting out timely communication and outreach, and we are eager to move forward and celebrate Music City’s top communicators.

To properly honor the outstanding accomplishments of our award winners, we are shifting our virtual celebration from a live Zoom event to a social media campaign Monday, September 20. Follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, as we share individual posts recognizing our community’s award-winning communicators and their entries. Please join us in celebrating our winners by liking, commenting, and sharing with your networks. These winners deserve all the praise in the world, so help let’s spread the word and cheer them on!

As members of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), an organization with an emphasis on learning, we would like to turn our misfortune into a learning and teaching opportunity. We will focus our next professional development event on video conferencing, cybersecurity, and ways to keep your presentations and organizations safe. We will also hear from experts in these fields. Please keep an eye out for details coming soon.

I’ll end by touching on one of the many lessons I am taking away from this experience – that when unexpected challenges arise, people can show up in the kindest ways. Our chapter leadership has received many messages and phone calls over the past few days – not criticizing or blaming, but offering support, compassion, and encouragement. This is a testament to our IABC organization and the support we have for one another in good times and in bad.

Thank you to our communications community for your understanding, kindness, and support. We look forward to “seeing” you soon.

Special thanks to our partner IABC chapters for judging our awards entries:

• IABC Atlanta
• IABC Central Oklahoma
• IABC Dallas
• IABC Houston
• IABC South Carolina
• IABC Southern Region

Our 2021 Music City Gold Pen Awards are sponsored by:

Thank you for joining us in recognizing business communicators from across Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky for their professional achievements and brand campaigns.

About the Event

IABC Nashville broadcasted the 2020 Music City Gold Pen Awards on November 2 on Facebook Live. Danielle Breezy, Chief Meteorologist from WKRN-TV Nashville News 2, served as emcee, and singer-songwriter and American Idol semi-finalist Sarah Lake was the musical guest. A total of 36 awards were presented in categories ranging from change communications to nonprofit campaigns. Photos from the awards celebration are posted here.

From Our President 

“It is an honor for our chapter to recognize these communications professionals for their outstanding work and campaigns,” said Mollye Dietrich, IABC Nashville president. “From internal communications teams to public relations agencies, this year’s group of winners displayed the very best in business communications throughout Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky and are paving the way for our region to be recognized as one of the nation’s top locations to be a communications professional.” 

Congratulations To Our Award Winners! 

The award winners represented a range of industries, including strategic communications, public relations, non-profit, marketing, media relations, healthcare, and more. The teams at GSH Media and Keycom both took home numerous awards for their work in media relations, nonprofit campaigns, publications, audio/visual, social media programs, and special events. Words By Joe Diorio received the Best of Show award for the writing entry “A Few Words About Words” receiving the highest score out of all submissions. This year’s award winners and categories include:

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Thank you to all that attended our July professional development event, “Write to Win: Mastering the Art of Awards Submission Writing.” We hope you enjoyed some of the key takeaways to help take your awards entries to the next level. A special thanks to IABC Southern Region, IABC Atlanta, Kansas City IABC, and IABC South Carolina for their support in making this event happen!

In this hour-long workshop, we learned how to avoid common pitfalls and ways to make your entries stand out in front of judges, including:

• Identifying common mistakes and writing problems
• Understanding judges and what they are looking for
• Proactive planning to avoid late deadlines
• Crafting entries that tell a story and demonstrate results

Panelists:
Alison Shuman, Vice President of Awards, IABC Southern Region, Vice President of Finance, IABC South Carolina
Eric Berrios, Vice President of Professional Recognition, IABC Atlanta
Maliha Khan, Vice President of Communications and Director of Awards, Kansas City IABC

Moderator:
Kellie Davie, APR, Vice President of Awards and Communications, IABC Nashville

We are thrilled that the presenters have provided us with slides from the presentation, which can be downloaded in the link below. Also provided is a recording of yesterday’s workshop, just in case someone you know missed it.

Webinar Recording

Download Presentation

Download Workshop Exercises

Are you entering award nominations for your organization, but not getting the results you deserve? The problem could be the way you are filling out your application. Successful award entries take time, strategy, and dynamic storytelling.

Join us on Wednesday, July 22, for an in-depth panel discussion on award writing best practices with some of the International Association of Business Communicators’ (IABC) professional recognition leaders. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls and ways to make your entries stand out in front of judges. This workshop will include:

• Identifying common mistakes and writing problems
• Understanding judges and what they are looking for
• Proactive planning to avoid late deadlines
• Crafting entries that tell a story and demonstrate results

These best practices will prepare you to submit any type of award entry, regardless of industry and award type. This online event is free for IABC members and non-members.

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