The winners of the 33rd Annual APEX Awards for Publication Excellence were recently announced, and both the NBCC Communications Department and the editorial staff of The Professional Counselor (TPC), NBCC’s peer-reviewed journal, each received four awards for their work.
The APEX Awards are a competition for corporate and nonprofit publishers, editors, writers, and designers who create print, web, electronic, and social media content. Awards are based on superior graphic design, editorial content, and overall communications excellence. APEX Grand Awards honor outstanding works in 13 main categories, while APEX Awards of Excellence recognize exceptional entries in 100 subcategories. Nationwide, nearly 1,200 entries were submitted for this year’s competition.
This is the second year that the NBCC Communications team submitted winning entries. This year, the group brought home the following four awards:
- Writing (Grand Award)—Rachel Sommers, Spotlight: A Lifetime Seeking Purpose and Connection; Gretchen Porter, copy editor
- Most Improved Newsletters—NBCC Visions
- Electronic Media, Education & Training—Certification and Credentialing Services Department Lunch & Learn
- Design & Illustration, Design & Layout—Counseling Fellowship Flyer
"The NBCC and Affiliates Communications Team has poured their heart and souls into producing high quality publications and materials to raise the visibility of the important and impactful work of counselors across the globe," stated Kylie Dotson-Blake, President and CEO. "Each day we are impressed by their creativity and professionalism and are humbled that they are willing to share their talents with our organization. We all celebrate the recognition they and their work has received through the APEX Awards."
TPC, NBCC’s open-access, online academic journal, also won four awards:
- Grand Award, for TPC Volume 10, Issue 4
- COVID-19 Media—Health & Medical, for Stacey Diane Arañez Litam’s article entitled “‘Take Your Kung-Flu Back to Wuhan’: Counseling Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders With Race-Based Trauma Related to COVID-19,” from TPC Volume 10, Issue 2
- Electronic Media—Special Purpose, for TPC Digest Volume 10, Issue 2
- Websites—WordPress Sites, for TPC’s website, tpcjournal.nbcc.org
This is the ninth consecutive year that TPC has won at least one APEX award, and the second year in a row that the journal has brought home four awards.
“I continue to be amazed and inspired by the accomplishments of our team,” says Catherine Clifton, MFA, NBCC’s Director of Professional Resources and managing editor of TPC. “This year the APEX Awards have called attention not just to our fabulous editorial and design staff, but also to a specific author and our web designer. It’s so important for our readers to know just how much hard work from just how many people goes into making TPC a success.”
The competition is sponsored by Communications Concepts Inc., a company that helps professionals in the fields of publishing, public relations, and marketing improve their publications and communications programs through business writing and communications consulting services and reports.
100 Grand Awards were presented to honor outstanding work in 13 major categories, with 471 Awards of Excellence recognizing exceptional entries in 100 subcategories.
