May 2002

Cortland Wins NYSEDC Top Marketing Awards

Cortland County won top honors in the New York State Economic Development Council's annual marketing awards competition. The NYSEDC is the principal statewide organization representing 700 local, regional and statewide development professionals. Its membership includes industrial development agencies, local development corporations, utilities, public authorities, bond underwriters, chambers of commerce, banking institutions, law firms and corporations.

Awards will be presented on April 23 at the NYSEDC's annual conference in Cooperstown. The winning materials will also be on display at the conference from April 22 to 24 at the Otesaga.

NYSEDC's annual marketing competition includes five categories: development brochures, newsletters/annual reports, print advertising material, web sites and multi-media advertising. Cortland was the first place winner in two categories, and second place winner in one category.

The Cortland BDC/IDA's newsletter, Cortland on the Move, garnered the first place award in the statewide competition, earning top honors in the newsletters/annual report category. Also winning the first place award statewide in the development brochure category was the BDC/IDA's new business resource guide: "Growing Your Business: Step by Step." The BDC/IDA's new website, www.cortlandbusiness.com, earned second place statewide, in the NYSEDC competition.

"We consider it a tremendous honor to be recognized at the State level by a prestigious organization such as the New York State Economic Development Council," said BDC/IDA Chairman Paul Slowey. "This honor comes on top of Cortland's recent recognition by Site Selection Magazine as one of the top 50 small towns in the country for corporate facilities."

"This is especially meaningful because the marketing awards are based on a juried competition by peers," noted BDC/IDA Executive Director Linda Hartsock. "It's a recognition by other professionals in the field of economic development that Cortland is doing a quality job."

"It's also a recognition of the local team effort that went into producing these award winning materials," added Slowey. "BDC staff wrote the material for the brochure and web site, which were both designed by Cortland-based GPP, a multi-media firm. The newsletter is a joint creative effort of the BDC, GPP and Cortland-based Keegan Associates. Photos for all of the award winning pieces were taken by local photographer David Blatchley, GPP and the BDC staff. The materials were printed by GPP on its new state-of-the-art press."