San Marcos Communications Dept Wins Awards For Flood Response

The City of San Marcos Communications Department has won three statewide awards from the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers for its information sharing efforts during last year’s floods.

The department won top honors in two categories, Best Use of Social Media and Best Media Relations, and received the Award of Honor in the Special Publication category for its Children’s Dental Health booklet.

“The communication office is very honored to be recognized among our peers for our collaborative work with the community and the media,” said Kristi Wyatt, Director of Communications and Intergovernmental Relations. “While we’ve been recognized for our work during the Memorial Day Weekend Flood, it’s our goal to continue to engage and inform our residents whether about emergency situations or everyday information.”

TAMI Awards

Best Use of Social Media: Social media was the information lifeline that held the community and the communication response teams together during the massive floods that hit San Marcos and Wimberley in 2015. It was an invaluable tool for the local, regional, and national media who covered the disasters. Most importantly, it was the most timely and accurate way for residents to get the information that mattered to them, their family and friends while keeping them all safe.

Media Relations: The Memorial Day Flood of 2015 devastated San Marcos and Wimberley, destroying hundreds of homes and taking the lives of 12 people. The disaster attracted media attention from local, state, and national media outlets, including CNN, al Jazeera, and even People Magazine. The City of San Marcos Communications team used innovative communication tools and old-fashioned media relations skills to keep our media partners—and therefore our residents and interested people around the world—informed.

Award of Honor

Printed Publication: In December 2015, a subcommittee of the San Marcos City Council charged the communication office with spreading the message about dental health after the citizens voted to stop fluoridation of City water in November 2015. One element of the campaign was a brochure to be distributed, along with the toothpaste, posters, and activity sheets, at the City’s Women, Infant and Children (WIC) Program Office, through the school district and to the Head Start Program.

The TAMI Awards program, founded in 2001, serves as a professional high point for municipal communications work in Texas. Every year, new cities join the ranks of TAMI winners, showcasing their work for colleagues across Texas. In addition to peer recognition, members can learn more about best practices and harvest good ideas that help them to improve their own work process and product. The awards also help promote the profession both inside and outside local government