The City of Pitt Meadows won two MarCom Awards for its digitally produced annual report and its Take a Bite Out of Garbage campaign.

It is a matter of saving money and trees, according to Lorna Jones, the City’s director of human resources and communications.

“The rationale was that we were spending a lot of money on printing full annual reports, and we could reduce the cost significantly by producing and distributing the report digitally instead,” she explained.

“It’s also a sustainability issue; we can save a lot more trees by only printing a condensed version of the annual report and referring people online for the full version,” Jones added.

The City’s annual report earned a gold award, which places it among the top 18 per cent of the 6,000 entrants in the competition.

“One of our strategic focus areas as a local government is communication,” said Mayor Deb Walters. “So naturally we are thrilled to see that the professional marketing and communication industry recognizes what our municipality is doing. I think these awards show that although we have a small staff, they are resourceful and creative in trying new ways of reaching our citizens.”

The City’s full annual report was produced solely in digital form for the first time last year, and a condensed version was produced in print.

The City also received an honourable mention for the Take a Bite Out of Garbage campaign, which promotes the food waste curbside pickup program that launched last June.

The campaign was designed to educate people on the new food scraps curbside pickup program, and included signage and educational materials that were distributed to residents throughout Pitt Meadows.

City staff worked with local marketing and design firms Six Degrees Marketing and Farnsworth Designs for the design and production of both projects.

The awards are part of an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communication professionals.

There were more than 6,000 MarCom Awards entries from throughout the United States, Canada, and several other countries in the MarCom Awards 2012 competition. Entries came from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, public relations firms, design shops, production companies, and freelancers, ranging in size from individual communicators to media conglomerates and Fortune 500 companies.

The City’s annual report can be viewed online at www.pittmeadows.bc.ca.