Call for Entries
Are you committed to raising awareness of public power? Are you doing exceptional work in telling the public power story in your community? Do your communications have a significant impact?
Tell us about it! Share your best communications through the American Public Power Association’s Excellence in Public Power Communications awards program. Submissions are invited in three categories — web and social media; video, print and digital materials. Entries will be judged in four classes based on your organization’s gross annual revenues. Showcase your work, inspire your colleagues, and earn national recognition.
Eligibility
Any APPA member utility, state/regional association, or joint action agency can enter. You are limited to one entry per category.
All entry materials should have been produced and released within the last year and not able to be entered before last year’s deadline (August 9, 2024).
Deadline
The deadline for submissions will be updated in 2025.
Categories and Evaluation Criteria
1. Web and Social Media
- This category includes corporate, program, and campaign websites, as well as regular activity and campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogs, podcasts, etc.
- Well-designed, visually engaging, creative
- Aligned with organization’s core brand and mission
- Customer-friendly, sharing useful resources and information
- Relevant, engaging, action-oriented content — text, visuals, multimedia
- Accessible to people with disabilities
- Innovative, creative, useful campaigns
- Rich use of multimedia — infographics, memes, photos, videos, audio, etc.
- Wide reach and engagement
- Websites feature intuitive, well-organized navigation with robust search
- Websites are responsive for mobile devices, compatible with major browsers, search engine friendly
2. Video (See last year's submissions.)
- In-house or outsourced videos, three minutes or less
- Relevant and useful
- Creative, engaging, memorable
- Tailored to the audience
- Widely viewed and shared
- Bonus points for in-house production!
3. Print and Digital
- Newsletters, bill stuffers, annual reports, advertisements, program/product marketing materials, digital reports, digital marketing
- Well-designed, visually engaging, creative
- Aligned with organization’s core brand and mission
- Customer-friendly, sharing useful resources and information
- Relevant, engaging, action-oriented content — text and graphics
Classes
Entries will be judged in four classes based on your organization’s gross annual revenues
- Class A – gross revenues of $400 million or more
- Class B – gross revenues of $200 million-$399,999,999
- Class C – gross revenues of $75 million-$199,999,999
- Class D – gross revenues of less than $75 million
Fee
$100 per submission, paid online at APPA’s online Product Store. Be sure to pay for the total number of entries you are submitting. Entries will not be considered until payment is received.
Submissions
Each entry must include:
- A completed entry form. List the total number of entries you are submitting (limited to one entry per category).
- Five identical samples, if submitting a print piece.*
- A submission write-up that includes all relevant samples
- Note: If submitting in more than one category, please complete a separate summary for each entry.
- Payment confirmation emailed to [email protected].
*If you’re submitting a print piece, email us your entry form and payment confirmation, and also MAIL five clearly labeled identical samples to:
American Public Power Association
Attn: Communications Awards
2451 Crystal Drive, Suite 1000
Arlington, VA 22202
Phone: 202/467-2900
All entries become the property of APPA and will not be returned. APPA reserves the right to share entries (with due attribution) in whole or part, on its news, web, and social media channels.
Judging
An outside panel of communications experts will judge the entries, and determine award winners in each class and category, as warranted. Winners will be recognized at APPA’s Customer Connections Conference, November 2-5, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah. A selection of winning video submissions will be shown during the conference.
Note: We are not able to provide individual feedback on each submission.
Questions? Need help?
Email [email protected].