COVINGTON, Ga. - The Newton County School System Office of Public Relations has received five national awards for publications from the National School Public Relations Association, including two top Awards of Excellence. The department received two awards of excellence for a SPLOST Brochure and a SPLOST Flyer that provided important information to community residents prior to the district’s SPLOST referendum. Only three national awards of excellence were awarded in the finance publications competition and the NCSS Public Relations Department won two of the three. 

In addition to the awards of excellence, the Public Relations Department also earned three awards of honorable mention—two in the excellence in the writing category for articles entitled, “Meet Booker T. Pug” and “From the NFL to Teacher of the Year—Mr. Lewis Kelly”—and one for the district’s Portrait of a Graduate/Strategic Plan Flyer in the special purpose publication category. 

According to Richard D. Bagin, APR, executive director of the National School Public Relations Association, NSPRA received 1,148 entries into the awards program with 667 receiving recognition.

“Our department strives to keep all NCSS stakeholders informed of important information through various means of communications,” Sherri Davis, NCSS director of public relations, said. “It’s an honor to receive five national awards of recognition. Although the Public Relations Department produced the content for all publications, much of the credit for the Strategic Plan/Portrait of a Graduate and the SPLOST publications must go to Square One Creative Group, who did a fantastic job of putting all of the information together into such well-designed publications.

“While the awards are very special, most important is the fact that we were able to provide our stakeholders with important information regarding our school system.” 

“Congratulations to Ms. Sherri Davis for receiving this very prestigious recognition,” Samantha Fuhrey, NCSS superintendent, said. “It is certainly quite an accomplishment to receive five national awards and to secure two of the three awards in a given category. Ms. Davis works hard to keep the community informed with high-quality publications, and this recognition is a testament to her efforts.”