Monmouthshire County council is celebrating a golden week, where within seven days its staff have scooped six major national awards and been finalists in a further seven. The awards include plaudits for social media, marketing, transport and public relations.
Cllr Peter Fox, Leader of Monmouthshire County Council said:
“I am incredibly proud of what our people have achieved. We’ve become used to winning national plaudits and perhaps we don’t celebrate them enough, but six in a week is exceptional even by our high standards. I will be writing to everyone who’s been involved in this fantastic week of achievement to tell them just how thrilled I am and proud of what they’ve achieved. This isn’t about our organisation, it’s about advancing the interests of the County that we serve and care about.”
The biggest haul of awards in a single night was at the “Some Comms Awards”, the UK’s leading social media accolades. Monmouthshire scooped three trophies for:
- Best Use of YouTube – for the use of the social media channel in recruiting a new head of Children’s Services. Other shortlisted entrants included mobile phone giant Nokia.
- Innovation – For the use of the internal social media platform Yammer in creating a foster carers’ network.
- Monmouthshire also scooped the award for Best In House Team.
Individual officers have also shone. Communications Officer Jessica Roberts won Young Communicator of the Year at the prestigious Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Local Public Services Group awards. The CIPR is the only body recognised by government as representing the PR industry in the UK, so Jess’ award reflects the highest possible standards of professional practice in local public service communications. Also gaining national recognition was Richard Cope, our Passenger Transport Unit manager, on the award for Outstanding Contribution to Community Transport at the Community Transport Awards, run by the Community Transport Association – the UK’s lead body for voluntary and community transport.
Also winning a prize was our Tourism team, who shared a Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) award for their contribution to the marketing for last year’s Ryder Cup. The CIM is the UK’s lead body for marketing and the award reflects the excellent work that the partners did in promoting the event’s host communities. The banners hung from lampposts in our towns for the event was one of the most visible effects of a campaign that brought huge tourism benefits to our county.
As if this haul isn’t enough, we were also finalists for a number of other awards. These included Best Community Engagement and Best Social Media Campaign in the Some Comms Awards and Best Leaflet / Publication, Best Campaign, Best use of Social Media, Internal Communications and Small Team of the Year in the CIPR Local Public Services Group awards.
Paul Matthews, Monmouthshire County Council’s Chief Executive, added:
“I’m delighted by what our staff have achieved this week – and every week. It’s fantastic to get national recognition for the innovative work that we’re doing and for the individual achievements of our officers. But this is just the icing on the cake. Every day our people are ensuring that Monmouthshire’s residents and visitors have access to a range of excellent services, from libraries and museums, to schools, waste collection and social services. We keep our roads open through all weathers, support business and enterprise and protect our most vulnerable citizens. Monmouthshire is a great County and we are trying to become the Council that it deserves. We make mistakes along the way, and that’s ok because we are trying to get better all the time.”
