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'Bush telegraph' beats city in communication awards

Two regional Councils have taken out the 1999 TMP Worldwide/NSW Local Government Excellence in Communication Awards. The Awards, presented at the Local Government Public Relations Association (LGPRA) Annual Conference, held in March, were won by Dubbo and Shellharbour City Councils.

Dubbo took out the Most Innovative Event or Program category for its hosting of the 1999 LGA Annual Conference. It linked the City's premier tourist attraction, the Western Plains Zoo, to the event through the theme title 'It's a Jungle Out There.'

Shellharbour won the Best Communication Campaign category for a community based strategy to distinguish its central business district from the nearby village of Shellharbour.

Presenting the Awards, TMP/Worldwide CEO Phillip Beck said the winning entries were innovative and showed real evidence of thinking outside the square. "It is great to see two regional entries taking out the awards," he said.

The Dubbo event was highly successful with over 800 delegates, their partners and trade exhibitors attending the five day conference. Public Relations Officer Donna Ambler said the conference was a huge success, achieving its goals of showing Dubbo in a positive light, increasing tourism and gaining a reputation as an event venue.

"The 1999 Dubbo Conference was an exceptionally successful event and set a new standard for event management," Phillip Beck said. Shellharbour's endeavours to brand the City centre in its own right required creating positive opinions about the project, generating at least 100 suggestions from the public and promoting the final decision.

"The project was a huge success and we far exceeded our target of 100 suggestions," said Media and Communications Manager Neryl East. She said it was the largest public response Council has received to any community consultation and generated a lot of positive publicity.

Phillip Beck said the entry was impressive for the constant quality communication with the chief stakeholders and community via familiar media. "Another success factor was the fact that a highly divisive issue went to Council with no debate and no public submissions in opposition," he said.

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