Nominated for "Best in Community Campaigns"

*Note: This award nomiation is from 2011 but we are documenting old news! A throwback Thursday!

What happens when Katrina German, the Saskatchewan Literacy Network, the StarPhoenix, Postmedia, twelve Saskatoon businesses and hundreds of volunteers combine forces to promote literacy through Twitter? They get nominated for a national Digi Award!

The Digi Awards are Canada’s premier annual showcase of the remarkable companies, products and people making waves in the digital media industry. The Digi nominees are considered Canada’s digital elite – the brightest stars in the Canadian digital media landscape today. The “Raise a Reader 2011” campaign was nominated for a “Best of Community Campaigns” award.

On September 28, 2011, “How do you Raise a Reader? #RAR” was the most popular question on Twitter. As hundreds of Canadian volunteers were hawking newspapers on street corners to raise money for local literacy programs, there were 2.4 million impressions of the hashtag from people around the world due to the strategic communications plan coordinated by volunteer Katrina German.

“Although there are examples of online campaigns that go viral without any effort, there is often a need to create a plan in order to ‘stand out’ amongst all the competing ideas on the internet. Our team and volunteers wanted to raise awareness about literacy issues in Canada. Through the print media coverage and online conversations, I believe that we accomplished that goal” says German.

To compliment the Twitter campaign, twelve local businesses created a photoseries called “Living What We Learn” that was shared on the Saskatchewan Literacy Network website and facebook page. Local volunteers Bonnie Zink and Jennilee Cardinal-Schultz were key team members coordinating the literacy connections and photoshoot.

German relates “the team of volunteers and participation of the StarPhoenix and Postmedia were important to the success of this campaign. I thank every person who contributed to the planning and to the twitter hashtag on that day.”