Champaign Public Library Wins Prestigious National PR Award
The Champaign Public Library has won a 2014 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award for the Library Foundation’s “Show Some Library Love” fundraising campaign. The honor includes a $10,000 cash award from the H. W. Wilson Foundation. Additional sponsors of the award are EBSCO Information Services and the Library Leadership and Management Association, a division of the American Library Association.
Established in 1946, the John Cotton Dana Award is the top national award for innovative library public relations and the most prestigious award given by the American Library Association. This year’s competition included 83 submissions from academic, public and special libraries for work completed in 2013. The eight winners will be recognized at the American Library Association’s annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 29th, 2014.
The campaign was planned and managed by the library’s development director, Donna Pittman. The creative concept, copywriting and design were the work of Elizabeth Otto, library promotions manager.
The campaign invited community involvement by featuring photo booth images of library patrons, trustees and staff posing with favorite books. Library Foundation board members also appeared in photos and recorded testimonial radio spots. The campaign resulted in a 30% increase in the number of gifts received and a 60% increase in dollars raised, compared to the previous year’s campaign.
Winning entries can be viewed online here.