Central Rural Electric Cooperative recently received recognition from “The OKLU Awards,” the annual member relations, marketing and communications contest sponsored by the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives (OAEC) and Oklahoma Living magazine. 

Central received an Award of Excellence in the Layout and Design category for its newsletter, Empowered. Central also received an Award of Excellence in the Annual Report category for its 2019 Annual Report. The co-op received honorable mention for its new Central Community Foundation website.

The annual OKLU Awards program recognizes the best communication and marketing efforts by Oklahoma’s rural electric cooperatives. Electric cooperative communicators and marketing professionals submitted more than 125 entries in 2020. 

Noted professionals in the fields of marketing, design, communication and photography judged the event, which uses a detailed scoring system to determine the winners.

“We are honored to recognize excellence in the work communicators produce on behalf of electric cooperatives,” said Anna Politano, OAEC Director of Public Relations and Communications. “Delivering messages in a clear, concise and creative format is vital to keeping members engaged in their cooperative.” 

Central  was recognized during the OAEC Member Relations & Communications Association Virtual Meeting on Nov. 12. 

OAEC is a statewide association created and voluntarily supported by local electric distribution and generation & transmission cooperatives. OAEC is comprised of 30 member systems: 27 distribution electric cooperatives and three generation & transmission electric cooperatives.

Oklahoma Living is the state's largest subscription-based monthly publication, published for consumer-members of Oklahoma's rural electric cooperatives by the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives since 1948.