‘The Voice of Morgan County’ receives national honor

Published 1:30 pm Friday, July 31, 2015

Morgan County has received a national honor for its quarterly publication “The Voice of Morgan County.”

The county’s Communications Director Sheryl Marsh was the recipient of the award for the publication she created in 2012 after the commission hired her to develop the Communications/Community Relations Department. The publication is mailed to 40,000 homes each quarter.

The National Association of County Information Officers, an affiliate of the National Association of Counties (NACo) has held the competition for more than 30 years to recognize the best works of county public relations officials who strive to promote the government entities they represent. NACIO gave awards for communications projects in nine categories, and a panel of judges recommended some entries for three other categories of honor, one being meritorious. “The Voice of Morgan County” was tapped for the Meritorious Award in the publications category.

Entries were based on originality, effectiveness, results, degree of effort, difficulty and overall quality.

“We are proud of the national recognition for the publication that we produce for county residents each quarter,” said Chairman Ray Long. “It’s a huge honor for the county and the state. It’s something our residents can be proud of.”

District 1 Commissioner Jeff Clark shared Long’s sentiment.

“I’m proud of Sheryl’s accomplishments for doing a great job,” Clark said. “We didn’t expect anything less when we hired her.”

The awards were presented at a NACIO banquet last week in Charlotte, NC, during NACo’s annual conference.

Marsh, a former journalist for 37 years, retired from the profession in 2012 to accept the county position.