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Stories about rural explorers, a classroom surrounded by ice and women collecting mis-matched buttons each earned national writing awards on Aug. 9.
The editorial team for Ruralite magazine, a Pioneer Utility Resources consumer-facing publication, won three feature-writing awards from the National Electric Cooperatives Statewide Editors Association (SEA) and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) awards banquet at the National Press Club Building in Washington, D.C.
In the Best Entertaining Feature (more than 650 words) category, Pioneer won two awards:
- Award of Excellence: “Going the Extra Mile” by Pamela Keene
- Award of Merit: “Outdoors Awakening” by Molly Rettig
The communications co-op also received an award of merit in the Best Personality Feature category for “Sealed With a Wish,” by Vicki Hillhouse.
“These awards represent the best work among so many in the industry in 2023. Our feature writers, and the Pioneer publishing team behind them, clearly connected with our peers and, most importantly, those we serve with our energetic array of cooperative magazines,” Pioneer Senior Vice President of Content Leon Espinoza said. “The fact that the honors reflect the value we place on compelling storytelling is icing on the cake!”
Inside the Winning Stories
“Going the Extra Mile” introduces the world of the Extra Miler Club, a group of Americans sharing a simple goal — to visit every county in the nation.
“For me, the journey is about exploration, finding places that are so beautiful and awe-inspiring,” club member Rodney Pridgeon said. “Many of them draw me back for repeat trips.”
“Outdoors Awakening” brings readers along to an Alaskan wilderness school, the Tidelines Institute, where students, farm, cook and live in the wild.
“I’m coming from the inner city to a rural town in Alaska, with people who don’t look like me, think like me, believe like me,” Feven Negussie, one of the students, said. “I thought, ‘Who am I going to rely on out in the middle of nowhere?’”
“Sealed With a Wish” introduces readers to a Ladies Night Out group collecting buttons, fabric scraps and other items requested in Ruralite magazine’s Reader Exchange section.
“You look at the impact,” organizer Marilynn Colcord said. “Somebody, somewhere, feels seen, heard, special and overwhelmed with love.”
What’s SEA?
The association supports electric cooperative statewide consumer publications and the people who produce them through training and education activities. Working in partnership with NRECA, SEA represents 32 statewide magazines, including Ruralite, Currents, Louisiana Country and Florida Currents. The annual awards are nicknamed the Willies, a tribute to the legendary cooperative mascot Willie Wiredhand. The awards honor excellence in publication designs, writing, illustrations, photography and website design. Learn more at sea.coop.
About Pioneer Utility Resources
Pioneer is a not-for-profit communications cooperative based in Hillsboro, Oregon. Formed in 1956, it provides agency-style communications services to consumer-owned utilities and affiliated organizations in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Marquee products and services include 11 consumer magazine brands reaching more than 1.3 million U.S. utility households. The cooperative also provides broadband marketing, social media engagement, responsive website design and hosting, podcast production and custom communications services. Pioneer is built to share members’ stories.
Pioneer also owns Efficiency Services Group, which specializes in support and installation services for utility energy-efficiency efforts, primarily in the West, and NewsData, which publishes industry-leading, independent newsletters covering the utility sector in California and the Pacific Northwest. Pioneer is also the largest shareholder in General Pacific, a Fairview, Oregon-based electric supply company. Learn more at pioneer.coop.