CIPCO and three member cooperatives were recognized in the 2010 “Spotlight on Excellence” national awards program, sponsored by the Council of Rural Electric Communicators and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.  CIPCO received an Award of Excellence in the Best Annual Report to Members category for the 2008 annual report entitled “Diverse, Efficient, Strong. Powering Iowa’s Future.”

 Award recipients from our member systems included:
• East-Central Iowa REC received the Award of Excellence in the Best Special Publication category for their entry entitled “ECI-REC Member Information Packet.”
• Pella Cooperative Electric was awarded the Award of Excellence in the Best Website category – www.pella-cea.org.
• Midland Power Cooperative received the Award of Merit in the Best Annual Report to Members category for their entry entitled “Your Energy Ally, Today and Tomorrow.”

A special luncheon honored the award recipients during the Connect 2010 Conference held in Kansas City, MO on May 12. Winning entries were displayed during the event. The annual Spotlight awards competition recognizes the top-rated communication and marketing efforts by electric cooperatives and related organizations. Participants in the awards competition competed with electric cooperatives of similar sizes in 19 categories. Electric cooperative communicators and marketing professionals submitted more than 804 entries in the Spotlight on Excellence program, now in its 22nd year.
 
“The judges noted the emphasis on being good stewards of each cooperative’s resources, while still doing the vital job of communicating with members” said Maggie Tilley, administrator of Spotlight on Excellence. “In difficult economic times, this has been especially challenging, yet, cooperative communicators rose to the occasion.”  The judging panel included faculty members from the University of Missouri – Columbia and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
 
The Council of Rural Electric Communicators was organized in 1982, and seeks to advance the recognition, education, and professionalism of electric cooperative communicators and their affiliated organizations. It is a volunteer association working on behalf of more than 4,000 electric cooperative communicators across the United States.
 
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the service organization representing the national interests of cooperative electric utilities, coordinates the Council’s activities. Other national organizations supporting the work of the Council are the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, the National Cooperative Services Corporation, the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, and Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange.