At the end of June, we received news that three SkillsUSA projects won Awards of Excellence in the annual APEX program which recognizes graphic design, editorial content and the success of the entries in achieving overall communications effectiveness and excellence. For 23 years, APEX (Awards for Publication Excellence) has judged and presented these awards to professional communicators. The SkillsUSA publications staff received Awards of Excellence in the following categories: –Member and Customer Materials: 2010-2011 SkillsUSA Membership Kit, submitted by Ann Schreiber; Marketing and Public Relations Electronic Media and Video Publications: A Week of Champions, submitted by Tom Kercheval; and, Tom Hall entered our 2010 Official Conference Program in the Brochures, Manuals and Reports category – and we won a Grant Award, the highest honor. This is the first Grand Award our staff has won in 14 years. The judges said: This is what a conference program should be.” Other Grand Award winners this year included familiar names such as Walt Disney Co., Toyota, Lockheed Martin, Ford Motor Co., City of Baltimore, Merrill Lynch, TD Ameritrade, FedEx and AARP.
And, on Friday during conference, new officers were elected to serve on the SkillsUSA State Association Director Executive Committee. Their offices will become effective after the August meeting. Gayle Silvey, Georgia, will be chair-elect. Josh Klemp, Rhode Island and Bruce McBurney, Washington, were both reelected to represent Regions 1 and 5 respectively. Tammy Brown, Michigan, was elected to represent Region 3. Carrie Wolf, Arizona, is the new secretary and Pete Carey, New Jersey, is the new parliamentarian.
