Mason PUD 1 Receives Four “Excellence in Communications” Awards from American Water Works Association

The American Water Works Association’s Pacific Northwest Section presented Mason County PUD No. 1 with four of the Association’s “Excellence in Communications” awards in 2020, for communications campaigns that were rolled out in 2019. The honors were bestowed in the categories of:

• Electronic Communications for the PUD’s social media platforms
• Internal Communications for the PUD’s “2019 Strategic Work Plan”
• Strategic Communications for the PUD’s “Cross Connection Control” campaign, and
• Wild Card for the PUD’s “New Customer Onboarding” campaign.

Kristin Masteller, PUD 1’s general manager, was originally scheduled to present on the winning communications at the AWWA-PNS annual conference in Spokane this month, but the event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. Instead, Masteller shared the news at the PUD 1 board of commissioners meeting, recognizing the efforts of staff, specifically water department employees Mary Bechtolt and Brandy Milroy.
“Our employees are really our best communication assets, and while these awards reflect the work of everyone on our team, it was really our water resource coordinator, Brandy Milroy, and our water engineering technician, Mary Bechtolt, that fine-tuned the communications in our water department”, Masteller said. “Our water techs and customer service representatives relay information back and forth, but Mary and Brandy are the two that coordinate and lead these efforts and they really deserve the bulk of this recognition.”
The Pacific Northwest Section of the American Water Works Association was founded in 1927 and provides leadership to drinking water professionals in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. PNWS is governed by its 3,000 members and its programs are carried out by hundreds of member volunteers, assisted by staff located in Vancouver, Washington.