NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2010

Ohio Wildlife Agency Honored with Four National Communications Awards

COLUMBUS, OH - The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Division of Wildlife recently received four national communications awards from the Association for Conservation Information (ACI). The division's communication efforts were produced over the past year. About 300 entries were submitted by state, federal and Canadian wildlife conservation, parks, and natural resource agencies for consideration in 24 different categories.

The following Division of Wildlife projects were honored: Introduction to Ohio’s Insects poster, Wild Ohio Television DVD mailer, Chief’s Challenge Communications Campaign and I.D.E.A. Summer Educator’s Institute.

"We are honored to receive national recognition for our communication projects,” said Vicki Mountz, executive administrator for the division's Information and Education Group.  “Our goal is to effectively communicate wildlife information to Ohio’s hunters, anglers and wildlife enthusiasts.”

The Introduction to Ohio’s Insects poster placed first in the poster category, and the Wild Ohio Television DVD mailer took first place honors in the one-time publication: other category.

The Chief’s Challenge campaign, which challenged Ohio’s hunters to harvest an extra deer to donate to the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry program, earned second place in the communications campaign category. 

In the education and outreach category, the I.D.E.A. Summer Educator’s Institute, a week-long series of workshops and hands-on learning for Ohio educators, took third place.  The institute was a partnership between ODNR’s Division of Wildlife and Division of Soil and Water Resources.

ACI is a non-profit association of professionals representing state, federal, and Canadian agencies and private conservation organizations. ACI's membership consists of the information, education and public affairs staffs of state, federal, and Canadian wildlife conservation, parks and natural resource agencies. Many private organizations, corporations and individuals with similar functions also belong and contribute significantly to the organization's mission.