September 6, 2002 – Roanoke, Virginia – The Southern Economic Development Council has recognized the Roanoke County Office of Economic Development for its website in the 2002 Literature and Promotion Awards competition. Out of 192 overall entries, the County was one of forty submissions in the web sites/multimedia category, which was the single largest category in the competition. A panel of six judges including selected well-known site selection consultants reviewed the entries. Following a critical evaluation including stringent scoring criteria, Roanoke County’s newly designed economic development website earned a merit award in the competition. There were only 12 award winners in this category, which places Roanoke County’s site among the finest economic development websites in the Southeast.
The Web site features a multi-lingual introduction, which includes Japanese, German, Dutch and Spanish.
The Southern Economic Development Council (1946) is the oldest and largest regional economic development association in North America, with a membership of 1,200 economic development professionals in 17 states throughout the American South, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
Through dynamic leadership, exceptional programs, educational opportunities and the promotion of responsive public policy, the Southern Economic Development Council strives to set the standard in economic development associations. “It is a great honor to be recognized by our peers in the Southeast, but especially by the site selection consultants, who are a primary target audience for our services. It confirms that our goals and objectives for the site are being met,” said Jill Loope, Assistant Director for Roanoke’s development department.
The website was recently redesigned by the O’Connor Group, a Roanoke-based advertising and marketing firm that has won more than 100 local and regional awards from the Advertising Federation. The 13-person ad agency received the 2001 Small Business of the Year in Service Award from the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.
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