Okanogan PUD employee, Debbie Peters, was on hand at the Northwest Public Power Association’s (NWPPA) Excellence in Communications event in Idaho on September 18^th to receive three awards. The PUD was awarded 2^nd place in the Pamphlet/Brochure category, 2^nd place in the Photography category for a picture taken of George Webster at the top of a transmission tower in Brewster, and 3^rd place in the Wild Card category for its Youth Pole Climb t-shirts.

Now in its 19^th year, the Excellence in Communication contest recognizes the top communication efforts from Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA) member utilities and associations. NWPPA presented the awards last week at its Northwest Communications & Energy Innovations Conference awards banquet at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho.

This year NWPPA received nearly 160 entries from 37 different utility and association members – topping the amount of participating members from the past several years. Categories are broken up into four groups: Group A utilities having the smallest number of customers and Group D having the largest. Local marketing and communication professionals volunteer their time to judge the entries; professors from Washington State University Vancouver and the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication were among this year’s volunteers.