Texas Border Business
The Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO), a division of the Texas Municipal League (TML), announced the 2022 winners of its state-wide TAMI Awards Competition during a ceremony at the annual conference held last week in Houston, Texas. The City of McAllen Office of Communications earned a total of two awards for its video production work. This year, 436 entries, from 70 different municipalities in Texas submitted entries for this year’s competition.
“I am so proud of all the work done by our City of McAllen employees, who work every day to serve the community and residents of our great city,” said McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos. “Being recognized for that work by a state organization demonstrates the quality product our employees deliver every day.”
The City of McAllen Office of Communications won a first place TAMI Award for its work in the Video Category, One Time Special Event, for the video: “McAllen’s Last Call – Remembering McAllen’s Fallen Police Officers,” a video tribute to the loss of two McAllen police officers in 2020. The video highlighted the tributes and memorial, with soundbites from the various events held leading up to their burial and culminating with the last call when the badge numbers of Officer Edelmiro Garza and Officer Ismael Chavez were retired by McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez.
The department also earned an Award of Honor, or Third Place award, in the Video Category, Recurring Event, for two episodes of the series “McAllen’s Own,” which highlights the hidden talents of McAllen city employees. The two episodes, “McAllen D.J.s” and “McAllen Firefighter” were well-received by the judges, for showcasing municipal employees in a different light.
“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. “For the McAllen Office of Communications to be awarded by the leading industry organization speaks to the quality of the work produced by the entire team. It is good when your peers say, ‘You’re the best.’”
“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.”
The Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers was developed as a result of the increasingly complex role of public information in municipal government. 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 who work in municipal government of similar agencies.
