The City of West Hollywood had a good year with awards and recognition are concerned. is honored to have been the recipient of dozens of prestigious awards from esteemed and respected local, regional, and national organizations in 2018. The honors recognized WeHo City for its continued commitment to best serve the community with innovation, creativity, and dedication.
“What a year it’s been! It is such an honor that the City of West Hollywood has been recognized by so many outstanding organizations,” said West Hollywood Mayor John J. Duran. “West Hollywood City Hall is committed to leading the way among small cities and we are a model for countless communities across the nation. I’m so proud of the excellent work that our City’s staff members do. These awards affirm that West Hollywood is one of the most outstanding places anywhere to live, work, and play.”
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Art Works program recognized the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division, which is part of the Economic Development Department, by awarding a grant of $35,000 to support the production of Señor Plummer’s Final Fiesta, which is a site-specific, interactive theater experience that celebrates, illuminates, and magnifies the life of Eugenio Plummer (also known as “Don Eugenio”) whose family once owned 942 acres in the Los Angeles area. Plummer passed away in 1943 at the age of 92 in a house on Vista Street in what is now Plummer Park in WeHo City.
The City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division was also recognized in the Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Year in Review program for its WeHo Arts: The Plan Data Visualization Projects. In works commissioned by the City, three artist/teams created projects that utilized a myriad of physical and digital spaces to communicate with community members about the City’s cultural planning process.
The City’s Communications Department was honored with three awards recognizing excellence in communications by the national City-County Communications and Marketing Association (3CMA). The awards recognize the communications and outreach efforts of local governments throughout the United States. 3CMA conferred its Savvy Award for Promotional Video and its highest honor, the best-in-show Silver Circle Award, for Public Service Announcement to recognize the City of West Hollywood short documentary-style video Getting to Zero. The video highlights the City’s support for local HIV/AIDS organizations and its vision to build an HIV Zero future. In addition, the City’s WeHoTV NewsByte: Domenic Priore, received the Award of Excellence in the video category Interview/Talk Show/News Programming. The NewsByte focuses on author Domenic Priore speaking about the history of the Sunset Strip.
The California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) gave the City of West Hollywood its top award, the EPIC Award, in the Marketing Plans/Campaigns category for the City’s colorfully illustrated traditional advertising and outreach campaign — Social Media Connect @WeHoCity — which encourages community members to follow the City of West Hollywood’s primary social media channels. WeHo City continues to implement its Communications and Community Engagement Strategic Plan. As part of this effort, the City’s Communications Department has made an intensive effort to invest in digital outreach strategies that help grow the City’s reach on social media to engage active and interested followers who seek news and information about City events, programs, and services.
The City’s Communications Department also earned six awards recognizing distinction in communications by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Los Angeles Chapter. The City took home these honors while facing steep competition from the likes of several major public relations agencies, including MGA Media Group, Golin, and H+M Communications. PRSA-LA conferred its highest honor, the PRism Award, to the City of West Hollywood in three categories: Public Service Announcement: Linus and the Meaning of Pride; Marketing Campaign, Government: Social Media Connect @WeHoCity; and, Streaming Media, Livestream: #ResistMarch Livestream. In addition, the City also received the PRSA-LA Award of Excellence in three categories: Creative Tactics, Teaser or Other Collateral: Drag Queen Story Hour Fans; Video Programs, Government: Getting to Zero; and, Video Programs, Government: WeHo City Budget Animated Video.
The National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW) honored the City’s Communications Department with two awards recognizing excellence in website design taking home both the Pinnacle and Members’ Choice awards. The NAGW Pinnacle Awards are judged by a group of web professionals inside and outside of the government web industry and are awarded to the best entries based on the following judging criteria: team size, content, organization, design, performance and flexibility, accessibility standards, interactivity, open data, and responsive design. Additionally, the NAGW membership voted on the Members’ Choice awards from every entry in each category.
The West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce honored the City’s Communications Department with its 2018 Creative Communications Award in recognition of its efforts to engage community members in innovative ways, such as video PSAs, WeHoTV News, and social media.
The City’s Communications Department was also honored with a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award nomination in the category of Public Service Announcement (PSA) for the City’s WeHoTV Channel’s 60-second PSA (“Pride Service Announcement”) video: Linus and the Meaning of Pride, a short parody of the 1965 animated television special A Charlie Brown Christmas, based on the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. The one-minute PSA substitutes ‘Pride’ for ‘Christmas’ and reconstructs an animated scene in which Linus tells Charlie Brown about the beginnings of LGBT pride marches.
The City’s Finance and Technology Services Department was honored by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) with a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017. This is the twenty-fourth consecutive year that the City has achieved this prestigious recognition, which is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and reporting. It is awarded to governments that publish easily readable and efficiently organized financial reports which must satisfy both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable legal requirements.
The City of West Hollywood’s Planning and Development Services Department received the Governor’s Historic Preservation Award for the City’s Commercial Historic Resources Survey, Context Statement, and Preservation website. This award is the only official preservation award presented by the State of California to worthy recipients in recognition of exceptional achievements in the field of historic preservation. The department also took home three Sustainability Beacon Awards from the Institute for Local Government. The awards recognize individual accomplishments of cities and counties participating in the Beacon Program as they work to complete the five elements necessary to achieve a Beacon Award. The City earned the Platinum Spotlight Award for Sustainable Best Practices; the Gold Spotlight Award for Greenhouse Gas Reductions; and, the Gold Spotlight Award for Agency Electricity Savings.
The department also received two prestigious local awards from the American Planning Association, California Chapter, Los Angeles Section (APA Los Angeles). Each year, APA Los Angeles celebrates the region’s most outstanding planning work. Its annual awards recognize the exceptional efforts being carried out by urban planners, advocates, elected officials, and others to make great communities happen. The department took home an Award of Excellence for Neighborhood Planning for the City of West Hollywood’s Eastside Community Priorities Plan. This award recognizes a neighborhood plan, program, design, or related effort that demonstrates innovative planning principles and measures that create sustainable neighborhoods of lasting value. The second award is the Planning Landmark Award for the City of West Hollywood’s 1988 General Plan. This award recognizes a planning project, initiative, or endeavor that is at least 25 years old and is historically significant, having initiated a new direction in planning or impacted California planning, cities, or regions over a broad range of time.
The California Preservation Foundation also awarded the Planning and Development Services Department with a Preservation Design Award for the West Hollywood Commercial Survey and Preservation website.
The City’s Social Services Division, part of the Human Services and Rent Stabilization Department, received an Innovative Sustainability Award from the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at its Creative Business Awards for its new Sunset Strip-oriented trolley service, the Sunset Trip, which joins the Cityline and The PickUp in offering free transportation alternatives.
For additional information, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Director of Communications, Lisa Marie Belsanti, at (323) 848-6378 or [email protected].
