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Ideas and advice from Utility Pioneers, a co-op month campaign and a calendar geared toward content planning scored high at the Cooperative Communicators Association’s 2025 Communications Awards.
Pioneer Utility Resources, a communications cooperative, won three awards and a Best of Show honor for outstanding storytelling during the awards ceremony, held June 2 during the 2025 CCA Institute in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Award-winning work:
- Best of Show, Programs and Projects category, and First Place, Cooperative Education: “The StoryConnect Podcast.”
- First Place, Campaigns and Programs (Short-Term): Keep it Cooperative.
- First Place, One-Time Publications: Stories Connect Us: 2025 Content Planner.
CCA, a national group for communicators and marketing professionals, includes 350 cooperatives from all sectors, including finance, agriculture, dairy, electric, telco, broadband, purchasing and marketing.
Professional communicators representing more than 42 cooperatives from across the United States and Canada entered 406 storytelling examples in the competition. The awards recognize the best in writing, photography, programs and projects, and publications for member-owned businesses.
1. Best of Show: ‘The StoryConnect Podcast’
“The StoryConnect Podcast,” hosted by Andy Johns and Megan McKoy-Noe, and produced by Sarah Wootten, took first place in CCA’s Cooperative Education category for the third year in a row. With a perfect score, the idea-focused podcast also won Best of Show in CCA’s Programs and Projects category.
“Great use of the podcasting platform to showcase stated principles of education, training and information,” one CCA judge wrote. “Very high quality!”
In 2024, the podcast showcased 49 interviews with utility communicators, CEOs and other industry leaders. But some ideas never go out of style. The podcast library offers 350 story-focused episodes with 19,000 all-time downloads—and growing. The podcast celebrates 10 years of sharing ideas in 2026. New ideas drop twice a month.
Pioneer uses a mix of live recording events, swag, print and digital ads to drive awareness of the podcast. In 2024 video versions of select podcasts were added to a YouTube channel, increasing the podcast’s reach.
Want to tune in to the most popular episodes? We round them up every year:
- Branding, Bigfoot and Boosting Staff Top List of Popular Podcast Episodes in 2024
- Broadband Labels, Staff Storytelling and Personal Brand Building Top List of Popular Podcast Episodes in 2023
Follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast and other audio outlets, and watch on YouTube.
2. Keep it Cooperative Campaign
Every year Pioneer’s storytellers celebrate National Cooperative Month with free resources and ideas. Our 2024 toolkit, with the theme Keep It Cooperative, won first place for short-term campaigns and programs.
The campaign has five core messages:
- Co-op. Connect. Succeed.
- Innovation Driven by You
- Building Connections
- Here for Our Members
- Locally Grown for Growth
“Short, punchy and engaging. The tone and language felt energized and accessible—well-suited to both internal and external audiences,” wrote a CCA judge. “The bold color palette, custom graphics and campaign-specific brand guides made it feel fresh and modern.”
Free for any cooperative to use, Pioneer’s Keep it Cooperative campaign also won gold from NRECA’s 2025 Spotlight on Excellence Awards for Best Social Media Campaign.
“Creative, well-executed and easy to engage with—this campaign strikes a great balance between internal connection and external outreach,” another CCA judge shared. “The visuals, messaging and tools provided were all top-notch.”
Sound like something you could use? Download it for free!
3. Stories Connect Us: 2025 Content Planner
Pioneer’s annual calendar, Stories Connect Us: 2025 Content Planner, took first place in the one-time publications category.
“The how-to guide for content planning was written in clear, plain language that was easy to consume and remember. It was also very encouraging to the user. Same goes for the midyear checkup,” one CCA judge shared. “I appreciated the research into and selection of the story sparks on the calendar pages for particular month and day observances.”
The content planner was mailed to Utility Pioneers in November and a digital version has been downloaded 927 times, as of June 2025.
“We all know we should develop annual communication plans … then life and crises intervene,” wrote one judge. “This entry provides an easy-to-follow template for recreating and executing plans and not beating ourselves up when things get off track (just get right back on). It also fulfills the objective of leveraging what Pioneer offers in support, including StoryConnect. Great job!”
Want to get on our mailing list for the 2026 version? Let us know! Want to create your OWN custom calendar to give out next year? Hear an interview about how we help Utility Pioneers share their story through calendars all year long, then learn how to get started at pioneer.coop/solutions/calendars.
Want to see the award-winning planner? While it may be June already, it’s never too late to start planning content. Enter your email to get a link to the digital version of Pioneer’s content planner:
Powerful Web Footer Wins Best Illustration/Graphic Design
Pioneer wasn’t the only one in the spotlight.
An illustrated footer created for Mille Lacs Energy Cooperative by Pioneer’s partners at Powerful won first place for Illustration, Graphic Design.
The Utility Pioneers at Oklahoma’ Association of Electric Cooperatives celebrated, too. The Oklahoma Living magazine website, built in partnership with Powerful, won second place in the website category.
The OAEC magazine team also won awards for:
- First Place, Documentary Video: 2024 Energy Trails
- First Place, Editorial, “You’re a member, not a customer — here’s why that matters”
- First place, Corporate Public Relations; first place, Photo Editing; second place, Photo Illustration: “Catching the Spirit”
- Photo Feature: “A veteran’s best friend”
- Photo Illustration: “Anatomy of a Bucket Truck”
Want to get ideas from the other winners? See the full list for inspiration from your peers across the co-op community!
About CCA
The Cooperative Communicators Association is an organization of professionals who communicate for cooperatives. The organization is unique in both its mission and membership. CCA works toward helping members excel in communications—from writing, photography and editing to video, layout and design. Just as important, CCA emphasizes ideas and strategies aimed at making communications more successful for cooperatives. Learn more at communicators.coop.
About Pioneer Utility Resources
Pioneer is a not-for-profit communications and marketing cooperative based in Hillsboro, Oregon. Formed in 1956, it provides agency-style communications services to consumer-owned utilities and affiliated organizations in 46 states. 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, podcast production and custom communications services.
Pioneer owns Efficiency Services Group, which specializes in energy-efficiency program support and installation services 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.