Charleston County Economic Development received one of the top honors for a communications piece at the Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC) Communication Awards Ceremony. The awards ceremony was held during the 2019 SEDC Annual Conference in New Orleans in August.

"These annual Communication Awards recognize and showcase the leading communication and marketing work done by economic development professionals throughout the south. Charleston County Economic Development hit the mark this year with this communication piece. Its entry in the Audiovisual (URL) category titled, Charleston Tech: Our Time is Now won a Special Judges Award for Talent Attraction. This piece not only showed creativity, but also solid messaging and effectiveness at reaching their target audience. We were wowed by all the entries we received this year and were impressed with the high level of marketing work being done in economic development by SEDC members," said SEDC president, Gene Stinson, after the ceremony.

In a partnership between Charleston County Economic Development and Charleston Digital Corridor, the four-minute video displays and celebrates some of the tech companies responsible for making Charleston the preferred destination for professionals and tech businesses.

"The Charleston tech community has grown from 18 businesses in 2001 to more than 450 today," stated Charleston County Economic Development Executive Director Steve Dykes. "The Charleston Digital Corridor has played an integral role in that success. It was a natural partnership to work together to highlight our assets and promote our thriving tech industry to the world."

The Communication Awards are given each year by SEDC at its annual conference. More than 20 categories of communications and marketing work submitted by SEDC members are evaluated within four divisions. The awards are: BEST OF SHOW, BEST OF CLASS, SUPERIOR, EXCELLENT, MERIT, and SPECIAL JUDGES' AWARDS. Judging criteria for General Entry Awards include Graphic Appeal, Clarity of Message, Quality of Information, Positioning/ Differentiation and Format. All winning pieces were on full display for attendees to view during the conference.

Charleston County Economic Development also received a recognition level of excellence for their Technomic Development Annual Report and a recognition level of merit for their Business Resource Guide. These pieces, along with the Charleston Tech: Our Time is Now video can be viewed at www.CharlestonCountyDevelopment.org.