The City of Round Rock’s Communications and Marketing Department won nine statewide awards for the team’s communication efforts, including five first place awards, three second and one third last week at the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO) conference, which took place at Four Seasons Hotel in Houston.

The City’s first place TAMI awards were for:

• Best Use of Photography — for photography of community events in 2021, with a special eye toward representation of both the diversity and nostalgic hometown charm of Round Rock. Judges noted that the images were “beautiful and vibrant,” and applauded the City’s editing techniques.
• Best Use of Social: Planned (Population greater than 100,000) — for the “Don’t Winter Like a Texan” campaign, which included a series of posts about winter preparedness and reached approximately 136,000 people. The series was an “engaging, funny and creative way to get people thinking about emergency preparedness,” according to judges.
• Best Video PSA: Marketing (Population Over 100,000) — for the City’s humorous “Skip the Wait — Shop the Rock” video encouraging residents to shop local during the holiday season. “The video was clever and made the point of the benefits of shopping local,” judges said.
• Best Video PSA: Educational (Population 75,000 – 150,000) — For the “Results Count” video that explains how the City’s resident satisfaction levels are a result of City Council’s strategic planning efforts. Judges appreciated the addition of animated graphics throughout the video to elevate the production.
• Best Special Publication — For the Round Rock Identity Style Guide, an internal branding document that helps the City of Round Rock maintain a strong visual identity that matches the professionalism of the overall organization as it continues to grow. “This publication is a designer’s dream,” one judge said.

The City earned a second place award for the redesign of roundrocktexas.gov, which was developed completely in-house and launched in July 2021. Judges noted that the process was a “huge undertaking” and said, “Hats off for achieving a beautiful website!” Two more second place awards were received for the City’s media relations efforts on the Round Rock Fire Department’s new Air Replenishment System, as well as the “Skip the Wait — Shop the Rock” video in the Best Use of Humor video category.

The City won a third place award for Best Recurring Event for its popular Hometown Holiday event, which included the addition of busker-style music in the downtown parklets this past year.

“I’m proud of our team’s ability to produce award-winning work that truly matters to our residents — from our website redesign to our winter preparedness informational campaign — and the support we receive from City leadership to tackle communications challenges in new and exciting ways,” said Sara Bustilloz, Director of Communications and Marketing. “This recognition also highlights our department’s unofficial motto of taking our jobs seriously, but not taking ourselves too seriously, which results in content that is informative and engaging for our audiences.”