Well done! Gold Quill recipients (left to right): Denise Leech, Rennie Brown, Tiffany Akins and Laurie Dawkins from Communications and Public Affairs.
Vancouver Coastal Health has been recognized as a leader in communications and public affairs with no fewer than four international awards from the world’s largest professional communicators association.
The US-based International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) confirmed this week that it has named VCH as the recipient of four of its Gold Quill Awards for communications excellence.
Two Gold Quills went to VCH’s Twitter strategy. Both were Awards of Excellence – the highest ranked IABC award level – in the categories of Social Media Programs and Digital Communications Channels. IABC recognized the @vchhealthcare Twitter account for going from “zero to hero in 140 characters”. In 2011, VCH went from being the only health authority without a social media presence to having the largest and one of the most engaged health authority Twitter communities in British Columbia.
“That the Communications & Public Affairs team was able to build such a social media community while operating in a large, complex health care environment and within existing resources is a credit to the team and VCH,” said Dr. David Ostrow, President and CEO.
“While anyone can create a Twitter account, it takes a great deal of strategy and focus to identify and build a following among and audience for something like health care,” he continued. “That we could achieve such an engaged following within such a short period clearly impressed the IABC judges and demonstrates the quality of work and innovation within VCH.”
True North campaign recognized
IABC also awarded VCH with two Gold Quill Awards of Merits – one for the C&PA-developed True North campaign, and the other for the communications campaign to encourage meningitis immunization.
True North, judged in the Communications Management category, was given an Award of Merit for its creative and focused approach to engaging employees across VCH in the strategic goals through an animated video as well as print and other materials. The meningitis immunization campaign successfully educated people about the merits of meningitis vaccination, using digital and print media to reach the 12-24 year age group which is at a higher risk of infection.
IABC’s Gold Quill Awards are judged by multiple levels of experienced communicators from around the world, including a select group of invited Blue Ribbon judges. Those recognized for their work on these projects from VCH’s C&PA team are Tiffany Akins, Denise Leech, Laurie Dawkins and Rennie Brown. The awards will be presented by the association at its annual international conference in New York City in July.