News
SAMHSA News: Top Honors for Writing, Design
August 3, 2011
Contact: Kim Callinan
Phone: (301) 984-4350
Rockville, MD—The SAMHSA News team at IQ Solutions recently added seven more national awards to its cumulative list of wins on behalf of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) national newsletter. Total awards over the years for writing and design for both print and online versions of SAMHSA News now top 80.
“The awards keep coming in,” said Ileana Quintas, CEO and founder of IQ Solutions, a leading provider of information, communications, and education services to U.S. government agencies and the private sector since 1993. “Our editorial, writing, and design teams deserve high praise for their dedication to behavioral health and all our other public health issues.”
The latest awards include two Magnum Opus Awards for excellence in writing, three Communicator Awards for outstanding work on the print newsletter, and two Blue Pencil Awards for writing and design. In the “Best Feature Article” category for the 8th Annual Magnum Opus Awards competition, Kristin Blank, a senior writer and editor at IQ Solutions, won highest honors—a gold award—for “Breaking the Silence of Suicide.” This article offers readers a description of ongoing efforts to help prevent suicide on college campuses.
In the “Best Public Service Series or Article” writing category, SAMHSA News writer Rebecca Clay received a silver award for “What You Need To Know About Health Reform."
Judges for the writing awards considered informational and entertainment value, the quality of the writing, and display copy. The Magnum Opus Awards are judged by professors from the Missouri School of Journalism and leading custom publishing professionals.
The National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) also recognized the health reform article with a second-place Blue Pencil award. The complete listing of 2011 award winners is available on the NAGC Web site.
Both winning articles are in the September/October 2010 issue of SAMHSA News, available online along with other archived articles from SAMHSA News 2002 to 2011.
Awards for Design and Layout
For the 17th Annual Communicator Awards competition, the International Academy of Visual Arts honored the print version of SAMHSA News with three Awards of Distinction for excellence in overall print design, layout, and content. The team won a Blue Pencil Award of Excellence from the NAGC in the “External Newsletter” category for the same three print issues.
The winning 2010 print issues include the following:
- May/June issue on children’s mental health and SAMHSA’s Project Launch.
- July/August issue on the Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill and mental health efforts to help local residents.
- September/October issue on health reform and what we need to know about the Affordable Care Act.
The IQ Solutions team managed both print and online newsletter production, including planning, writing, editing, design, and layout, for more than a decade.
The Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring the creative excellence of communications professionals. Visit the Communicator Awards Web site to view the full list of winners. This awards competition is judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, a membership organization of more than 550 leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts, dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media.
The NAGC Blue Pencil Awards Competition salutes the superior communications efforts of government agencies and recognizes the people who create them. The NAGC is a national not-for-profit professional network of federal, state, and local government employees. NAGC members include editors, writers, graphic artists, video professionals, broadcasters, photographers, and other communications professionals.
For more information about IQ Solutions and the company’s award-winning services, please email Kim Callinan at KCallinan@iqsolutions.com or call (301) 984-4350.
