The City of Gastonia is among 28 North Carolina governments to win an “Excellence in Communications Award” from the North Carolina City & County Communicators. Gastonia won first place in the “Digital Employee Newsletter” category. The awards were presented April 11 at NC3C’s annual conference in Durham.
“This was our first year doing the employee e-newsletter so it was quite an honor to be recognized for 
our first year’s effort,” said Gastonia Communications and Marketing Director Rachel Bagley. She noted that the City’s workforce of more than 900 people is spread out over dozens of different buildings, with many working outdoors, making it difficult for employees in the 13 different City departments to interact. “We started the internal newsletter to help employees get to know each other, to promote camaraderie and foster morale,” Bagley said.
Called Employee Focus, the internal e-newsletter is sent monthly to City employees’ email addresses. Feature stories have included profiles of employees who are also farmers, military veterans, married to other employees, and pet owners. Regular topics include health and wellness information, awards won by departments and employees, compliments and appreciation from citizens, and photos of employees on the job.
NC3C’s award categories included TV and video, communication technology, printed publications, marketing tools and citizen participation. “The work that city and county government communicators do is impressive and worth recognizing,” said NC3C President Dana Kaminske. “Being able to showcase the excellent talent from our members is exciting.”
Judges for the North Carolina competition were from the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers.
