The winners of the 2006 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Awards are:

Charleston County Public Library (Charleston, S.C.), for its innovative project, "Remembering the Cooper River Bridges," an aggressive public relations effort with local media partnerships, which dramatically increased the public’s awareness of the significance of Charleston’s bridges, and raised the library’s public profile with nearly $800,000 in free news coverage.

The James B. Duke Library -Furman University (Greenville, SC), for "ICU: Life in the Library" and "Year of the Library," a two-phase building renovation and expansion campaign. Staff members injected a humorous medical theme to ease stress during the construction phase, which was followed by a yearlong celebration of the library, its new building and capabilities.

The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (Cincinnati, OH), for a dynamic and comprehensive library card sign-up campaign. In partnership with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, the campaign used a fun and appealing wildlife theme with multilayered marketing strategies to reach and motivate students county-wide to sign up for library cards. The campaign resulted in record sign-ups, increased awareness of library services and invaluable community and media relationships.

Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, NC), for "Bringing the Story to Life," a campaign to celebrate the opening of ImaginOn, an innovative new space that combines a library and children’s theater. Staff overcame a number of hurdles, including some last-minute negative publicity, and responded with a magnificent public relations effort that resulted in attendance and media coverage at their grand opening events exceeding all expectations.

Calgary Public Library (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), for their innovative and unique program "The Great Alberta Reading Challenge." Calgary Public Library invited all libraries across the province to join in a friendly competition with prizes for the highest participation.

Loudoun County Public Library (Leesburg, VA), for their program "Hanging Out Rocks!", a campaign that responded to the needs of teens in their growing county by giving them a place that they could call their own. Teen participation, and the many strategies utilized in this thoroughly analyzed and detailed public relations plan, was key to moving the campaign forward and led to additional resources granted for a popular after-hours teen center at the library where "Hanging Out Rocks!"

Winners Received a $3,000 Grant
In recognition of their achievement, each of the winners of the 2006 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award received a $3,000 cash grant from the H.W. Wilson Foundation.

See the Winning Entries
Each year, you can examine the winning entries at the John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award booth in the exhibit area during the ALA Annual Conference. Conference participants will also be able to view the winners at the "Best of Show/Swap and Shop" program sponsored by LAMA during the ALA Annual Conference.

Winning entries from the most recent two years are available to borrow
via interlibrary loan from the ALA Library.

The John Cotton Dana Award is sponsored by the H. W. Wilson Company and the Library Administration and Management Association (LAMA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). H. W. Wilson Company and the ALA have jointly sponsored the awards since 1946.