SCEMD Wins National Public Information Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Tuesday, April 23, 2013) – The National Association of Government Communicators awarded the South Carolina Emergency Management Division its prestigious 2013 Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Award.  SCEMD received this national recognition for the South Carolina Earthquake Guide, a brochure that contains information on what to do before, during and after one of South Carolina’s greatest natural vulnerabilities.

The NAGC’s Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Awards are presented annually to agencies from around the country for excellence in government communications.  NAGC judges selected the Earthquake Guide out of hundreds of nominations in the “Special Purpose Publication” category.  A booklet from the National Science Foundation received 2nd Place.

The Earthquake Guide was the first, official publication to detail the state’s seismic threat and how best to prepare for a major earthquake.  The S.C. Earthquake Guide was the first publication to fully incorporate SCEMD’s social media and was made available for download online at scemd.org.  SCEMD developed the Guide with our partner organizations such as S.C. Earthquake Education and Preparedness Program at College of Charleston, the University of South Carolina Seismic Network, the S.C. State Geologist’s Office, the S.C. Insurance News Service, S.C. State Archives, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and others. 

Since its publication the Guide has been used as a model for other earthquake prone states to develop their own brochures, specifically member states of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium.

The National Association of Government Communicators is a national not-for-profit professional network of federal, state and local government employees who disseminate information within and outside government. Its members are editors, writers, graphic artists, video professionals, broadcasters, photographers, information specialists and agency spokespersons.