Illinois Woman’s Press Association’s 2016 Mate E. Palmer Professional Communications Contest Results Announced

Illinois Woman’s Press Association
P.O. Box 180150, Chicago, Illinois  60618
www.iwpa.org

CHICAGO – March 28, 2016 — The Illinois Woman’s Press Association (IWPA), in cooperation with the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), honors the best professional journalists, writers and communicators in the state through the annual Mate E. Palmer Professional Communications Contest. Today, IWPA announced its slate of accomplished 2016 winners. A full list of awardees and corresponding categories can be found here.

For the 2016 competition, communicators entered work in any of over 64 categories and subcategories: Writing, Editing and Page Design, Photography and Graphics, Radio/Television, Web and Social Media, Advertising, Public Relations/Promotion/Publicity, PR Materials, Speeches, Collegiate/Education and Books and Creative Writing. For consideration, the communicator’s work must have been completed between January 01, 2015, and December 31, 2015. Entries were submitted electronically before February 01, 2016.

Judges are chosen from a non-member range of appropriately trained and employed communication professionals, from college professors and freelance writers to book authors and art directors. These judges provide comments and feedback on all received entries, a rare annual opportunity for creative feedback in the oft-siloed communications world. IWPA members highly value this input.

Long-time IWPA member, writer and Chicago Writer’s Association (CWA) President Randy Richardson says, “…it was a pleasant surprise to open an email this week with the subject heading: ‘Congratulations! IWPA Contest Results.’…I’d been notified that I’d won not just one but five awards, including two first places for feature and sports writing. But my favorite part of it was not the awards themselves but the judge’s comments that came with them. It is the kind of comment that makes a writer keep writing.”

Each state winner of 1st, 2nd, 3^rd place or Honorable Mention Awards will receive a certificate, with 1st place winners progressing to national judgment via the NFPW. In addition, IWPA presents the Silver Feather Award to the member achieving the highest cumulative number of points among contest entrants. The 2016 Silver Feather Award will be given to IWPA President Becky Sarwate, in recognition of 2015 communications excellence across multiple categories.

All award winners will be celebrated at IWPA’s annual Mate E. Palmer Communications Luncheon on Saturday, May 21 from 11:30am – 2:00pm. Information and ticket purchases available here. Members of the public and media are welcome.

For more information, contact Beth Dugan, contest chair, at iwpa1885@gmail.com or (773) 742-2465.

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About IWPA:

IWPA (since 1885) is a gender-inclusive organization of communications professionals whose objective is to maintain and improve the professional standards of members in mass communications in Illinois, to promote their interest, and to provide for the sharing of ideas and information. IWPA is an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women.