FORT PIERCE - For the second year in a row, St. Lucie County's Media Relations staff earned recognition from the National Association of County Information Officers' (NACIO) Annual Awards of Excellence competition. Out of more than 450 entries, St. Lucie County received two awards in two different categories.

Media Relations Specialist Andrew Wise earned an "excellent" award in the 2008 NACIO Awards of Excellence competition in the "Television and Radio Shows" category for "The Lecture Hall" episode focusing on veterans at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, while Public Information Officer Erick Gill earned an "excellent" award in the "Writing" division for a series of press releases and the resulting media coverage on St. Lucie County's artificial reef program.

The NACIO award winners were announced last week. The awards will be presented at the group's annual meeting July 11-15 in Kansas City, Mo. The NACIO Awards of Excellence are given in various categories with rankings of "superior," "excellent" or "meritorious." Entries are broken into two divisions based on the county's population.

The State of Florida was well represented at this year's annual competition with nine different counties earning a total of 37 awards.

The National Association of County Information Officers was formed in 1966 with the goal to bring together communications professionals who wanted to share information with other counties across the United States. For more information visit: www.nacio.org.

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