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Arkansas Ballot Education Program Wins National Awards
The Public Policy Center's 2018 Arkansas Ballot Issue Education Program won multiple national awards for its public service campaign and team work to educate Arkansas voters.
A team of Community and Economic Development unit colleagues won an award from the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals. The group won the national Excellence in Teamwork Award for the 2018 Ballot Issues Education program, as well as the southern region award.
The Public Policy Center has published neutral, research-based information on Arkansas' statewide ballot initiatives since 2004. The 2018 Arkansas Ballot Issue Voter Guide can be found here.
The 2018 Extension team included Kristin Higgins, Dr. Stacey McCullough, Dr. Wayne Miller, Tyler Knapp, Julie Thompson, Chris Meux, Kerry Rodtnick, and Kimberly Rowe. The award also included Alan Trammell and Jonathan Marshfield from the University of Arkansas School of Law. The two law school professors reviewed the voter guide fact sheets.
The award was presented at a NACDEP conference in June in Asheville, North Carolina.
Kristin Higgins' work on voter education was also recognized by the National Federation of Press Women at a June conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Higgins, a member of Arkansas Press
Women and NFPW, received awards at the state and national level.
Higgins received an honorable mention for "Website edited/managed by entrant" for Extension's ballot education website, www.uaex.uada.edu/ballot. She also received a first place award from NFPW for "Public Service." The category included the voter guide, statewide communications plan for sharing Extension's voter education materials, online videos, website and social media outreach.