Texas Border Business
The Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO), a division of the Texas Municipal League (TML), announced the 2023 winners of its state-wide TAMI Awards Competition during a ceremony at the annual conference held last week in Arlington. The City of McAllen Office of Communications earned a total of four awards for its video production work and photography series. This year, 547 entries, from 70 different municipalities submitted entries for this year’s competition.
“Being recognized by a state organization for the great work done by our Office of Communications demonstrates the quality product our employees deliver every day,” said McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos.
The City of McAllen Office of Communications won an Award of Honor Award for its work in the Video Category, Marketing Public Service Announcement, for the video “Help Find Curby!” a video done in “breaking news” style, to encourage the community to find stuffed Curbys, to help celebrate Earth Day. In the Educational Public Service Announcement category, MCN won an Award of Excellence for “Fire Won’t Wait. Find Your Escape.” which highlighted the antics of local mascots at a sleep-over who are led by Sparky when a fire breaks out. For Best Photography, the team won an Award of Honor for a picture of Majestic Trees and for Communications Plan, the Office of Communications won an Award of Excellence for its “Majestic Trees” in Spanish video package.
“This organization is highly competitive, because every municipality in Texas strives to do its best to showcase their local government in the best light,” said McAllen City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez, P.E. “I am so proud of the McAllen Office of Communications for being recognized for their work.”
“The TAMI Awards allow our profession to honor the best work being done by communicators around the state. This year, we had a record-setting number of entries from cities as small as a couple thousand residents, to as large as more than a million. The competition was stiff and everyone who placed should be incredibly proud,” said TAMIO President Jay Warren, director of Communication and Legislative Affairs for the City of Arlington. “Hopefully cities will celebrate their wins with their city councils and residents as a way to further highlight the critical work of municipal communicators.”
City of McAllen Office of Communications Director Xochitl Mora, who was elected by TAMIO peers in Region 7 to represent them on the TAMIO state board, was installed on the board at the conference. Region 7 runs from San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo.
Additionally, Mora presented on a panel called “Communicating through the Storm,” discussing crisis management and communication. Mora shared the communications efforts in the tragic deaths of the two McAllen Police Officers killed in the line of duty in June 2020.
TAMIO actively seeks to advance and promote the cooperation and exchange of information and ideas among Texas cities and provide professional development for public information and communications managers.
