CAPIO's 2023 EPIC Awards Program
Opens Jan 13 2023 06:00 AM (PST)
Deadline Mar 6 2023 10:00 PM (PST)
Description

The Program 

The Excellence in Public Information and Communications (EPIC) Awards are presented annually by the California Association of Public Information Officials to honor outstanding public agency information and communications programs. 

The EPIC Awards honors work that rises above innovation and craft – work that made a lasting impact. Our goal is to offer an equal chance of winning to all entrants regardless of agency size and project budget. If your work moved people, we want to give it a chance to take home an EPIC.

The Finalists

CAPIO provides winners and their organizations the recognition they deserve while offering validation that their work is not only highly regarded by their peers within the industry but also making a tremendous impact in the communities served. 

The EPIC Award, our highest honor, is given to those entrants whose ability to communicate positions them as the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and achievement. 

Generally, one EPIC trophy will be awarded for first place, and one award of distinction awarded for runner-up.  All entries are evaluated against standard scoring criteria and judging is based purely on the quality of craft, so sometimes a category may have multiple winners, or none at all.

Finalist Notifications

Finalists will be notified by email in April and will also be posted on the CAPIO website. A list of the finalists will be posted to the awards page and notified individually.

EPIC Award and Award of Distinction recipients will receive their awards at the 2023 EPIC Awards Luncheon in Monterey on May 2 during the CAPIO Annual Conference.  The Best of Show award recipients along with the Paul B. Clark, Communicator of the Year and Frank Potter Cowan Crisis Communications Leader of the year awards will be recognized at the EPIC Awards Dinner the following evening, May 3. 

Award finalists are encouraged to bring a display if possible to show at the Annual Conference.  Displays can include marketing promotional items, a binder or folder with program collateral, an image poster (on foam core backing if possible), or other creative display forms. If finalists cannot attend the conference, the display can be sent to the CAPIO office or the conference hotel for display at the conference.

The Rules

Entry Eligibility

Any public information professional representing a California city, county, school, special district or other public agency may participate. Private firms may submit awards on behalf of a public agency; however, the entry must be in the name of the public agency and the agency must be notified in advance that a firm intends to submit an entry on the agency’s behalf.

CAPIO membership is not a criterion for entry.

Entry Requirements

All entries must be submitted online. To enter, you must complete and include all of the following items for each entry:

Other entry requirements (included in the narrative tips web page):

  • All entries must be for work performed and or executed in the calendar year 2022. 
  • An online entry form must be completed and submitted with each PDF. All entries must complete mandatory fields on the online entry form, including service area size  (e.g. population, ratepayer, etc.). The same service area size should be used across all entries, including internal communication (e.g enter service area, not total employees). 
  • Formatting: Each entry must include a written narrative that is no more than two pages, single-spaced, in no smaller than 11 point font and a minimum of .5 margins all around.
  • Each entry should include the agency’s name, award title and award category in the top right corner.
  • Entry must be loaded as a single PDF document and cannot exceed 15MB.

A single work may be entered in multiple categories and an entrant may submit multiple works in each category. 

Entry fees must accompany each individual entry.  A separate entry fee must be paid for single works that have been submitted in multiple categories. 

If you are submitting near the deadline and paying by check, please email a copy of the check and send to info@capio.org.

For payment questions or issues submitting your entry, contact the CAPIO office at info@capio.org.

The Scoring Criteria (View full criteria on our website.)

Entries will be judged based on:

  • Presentation (overall completeness and organization of entry)
  • Planning
  • Implementation
  • Results/Evaluation

For large entry categories, CAPIO may divide the entries into population groups as follows:

  • Small: 0 to 65,000
  • Medium: 66,000 to 135,000
  • Large: 136,000+

The Judging & Scoring

The EPIC Awards will be judged by experienced communicators from the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO). Our judges exchange partnership with TAMIO encourages a fair and effective process.

Winning entries for the EPIC Awards are reviewed by at least two judges per category selected, who have committed to uphold CAPIO’s commitment to fairness and merit-based achievement. This ensures each entry is afforded an equal chance of winning an award, as all entries are judged to evaluate distinction in creative work. All entries are evaluated against standard scoring criteria and judging is based purely on the quality of craft, so sometimes a category may have multiple winners, or none at all. 

Entries are scored on a 100 point scale by the judges. In categories that receive a large number of entries, the entries will be grouped according to service area size (small, medium and large) prior to being judged.

CAPIO's 2023 EPIC Awards Program


The Program 

The Excellence in Public Information and Communications (EPIC) Awards are presented annually by the California Association of Public Information Officials to honor outstanding public agency information and communications programs. 

The EPIC Awards honors work that rises above innovation and craft – work that made a lasting impact. Our goal is to offer an equal chance of winning to all entrants regardless of agency size and project budget. If your work moved people, we want to give it a chance to take home an EPIC.

The Finalists

CAPIO provides winners and their organizations the recognition they deserve while offering validation that their work is not only highly regarded by their peers within the industry but also making a tremendous impact in the communities served. 

The EPIC Award, our highest honor, is given to those entrants whose ability to communicate positions them as the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and achievement. 

Generally, one EPIC trophy will be awarded for first place, and one award of distinction awarded for runner-up.  All entries are evaluated against standard scoring criteria and judging is based purely on the quality of craft, so sometimes a category may have multiple winners, or none at all.

Finalist Notifications

Finalists will be notified by email in April and will also be posted on the CAPIO website. A list of the finalists will be posted to the awards page and notified individually.

EPIC Award and Award of Distinction recipients will receive their awards at the 2023 EPIC Awards Luncheon in Monterey on May 2 during the CAPIO Annual Conference.  The Best of Show award recipients along with the Paul B. Clark, Communicator of the Year and Frank Potter Cowan Crisis Communications Leader of the year awards will be recognized at the EPIC Awards Dinner the following evening, May 3. 

Award finalists are encouraged to bring a display if possible to show at the Annual Conference.  Displays can include marketing promotional items, a binder or folder with program collateral, an image poster (on foam core backing if possible), or other creative display forms. If finalists cannot attend the conference, the display can be sent to the CAPIO office or the conference hotel for display at the conference.

The Rules

Entry Eligibility

Any public information professional representing a California city, county, school, special district or other public agency may participate. Private firms may submit awards on behalf of a public agency; however, the entry must be in the name of the public agency and the agency must be notified in advance that a firm intends to submit an entry on the agency’s behalf.

CAPIO membership is not a criterion for entry.

Entry Requirements

All entries must be submitted online. To enter, you must complete and include all of the following items for each entry:

Other entry requirements (included in the narrative tips web page):

  • All entries must be for work performed and or executed in the calendar year 2022. 
  • An online entry form must be completed and submitted with each PDF. All entries must complete mandatory fields on the online entry form, including service area size  (e.g. population, ratepayer, etc.). The same service area size should be used across all entries, including internal communication (e.g enter service area, not total employees). 
  • Formatting: Each entry must include a written narrative that is no more than two pages, single-spaced, in no smaller than 11 point font and a minimum of .5 margins all around.
  • Each entry should include the agency’s name, award title and award category in the top right corner.
  • Entry must be loaded as a single PDF document and cannot exceed 15MB.

A single work may be entered in multiple categories and an entrant may submit multiple works in each category. 

Entry fees must accompany each individual entry.  A separate entry fee must be paid for single works that have been submitted in multiple categories. 

If you are submitting near the deadline and paying by check, please email a copy of the check and send to info@capio.org.

For payment questions or issues submitting your entry, contact the CAPIO office at info@capio.org.

The Scoring Criteria (View full criteria on our website.)

Entries will be judged based on:

  • Presentation (overall completeness and organization of entry)
  • Planning
  • Implementation
  • Results/Evaluation

For large entry categories, CAPIO may divide the entries into population groups as follows:

  • Small: 0 to 65,000
  • Medium: 66,000 to 135,000
  • Large: 136,000+

The Judging & Scoring

The EPIC Awards will be judged by experienced communicators from the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO). Our judges exchange partnership with TAMIO encourages a fair and effective process.

Winning entries for the EPIC Awards are reviewed by at least two judges per category selected, who have committed to uphold CAPIO’s commitment to fairness and merit-based achievement. This ensures each entry is afforded an equal chance of winning an award, as all entries are judged to evaluate distinction in creative work. All entries are evaluated against standard scoring criteria and judging is based purely on the quality of craft, so sometimes a category may have multiple winners, or none at all. 

Entries are scored on a 100 point scale by the judges. In categories that receive a large number of entries, the entries will be grouped according to service area size (small, medium and large) prior to being judged.

Opens
Jan 13 2023 06:00 AM (PST)
Deadline
Mar 6 2023 10:00 PM (PST)