Howard County Library System (HCLS) received international recognition by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) in the 2017 Hermes Creative Awards for three of its recent communication efforts. The HCLS Now! public relations campaign earned the Platinum Award, the organization’s top honor. Designed to introduce customers to the growing catalog of new eContent materials available online, the year-long campaign featured HCLS employees and the friendly “Hi” logo in a series of twelve testimonial style ads.

The source magazine cover photo of organic farmer and New York Times bestselling author Forrest Pritchard earned a Gold award in the portrait/people photography category. The photo was shot on location at Pritchard’s farm in Berryville, Virginia. The new HCLS HiJinx podcast also received an honorable mention for Episode 2 “Thanks for the Memories.” All aspects of the award-winning projects were conceived and executed in-house by the HCLS Public Relations team.
The Hermes Creative Awards competition recognizes creative professionals involved in the concept, writing, and design of traditional and emerging media. HCLS’ entries were chosen from more than 6,000 entries from throughout the world. Winners are selected from 195 categories grouped under advertising, publications, marketing/branding, integrated marketing, public relations/communications, electronic, and pro bono.

AMCP judges are industry professionals who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry. The international organization consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, media production and free-lance professionals.