Neighborhoods, USA 2020 Award Winner
Connections is now a nationally recognized community publication, named the 2020 Non-Profit Print Newsletter of the Year by Neighborhoods, USA (NUSA).
NUSA is a national, non-profit organization committed to building and strengthening neighborhood organizations. NUSA believes community newsletters are an effective communication tool to share news about our city, community, and neighborhoods. In addition to branding, design, and content, this award criteria also measured outreach and community involvement.
As Connections’ publisher, Highlands Council shares this award with all of you: our readers, our volunteer writers and photographers, and the generous support of the local business community.
Connections is written “by community, for community.” At Highlands Council, we take finding the right role for a volunteer seriously. Writing content and taking photos for Connections is a wonderful way for a volunteer who has something important to say or share with the community to get involved. Connections averages 15-20 volunteer writers and contributing photographers annually. Writing and photography are also wonderful ways for our community’s teens to build writing skills, be published, and create a portfolio for those important college applications. We love our volunteer writers; the best news is news from a neighbor.
Our small business advertiser-sponsors credit Connections as a key to their success. We might call them “ads” internally but consider print advertisement as community sponsorship. When local businesses purchase space in our media, they not only generate brand awareness in our community, they also show they believe in the importance of this community-created publication. Our sponsorship-advertisement sales fund the printing costs of the newspaper. We work hard to keep advertising costs affordable so as many local businesses can participate as possible. We offer a variety of ad and contract sizes.
Awards are great, but the most flattering compliment comes when a resident from a different community outside of Issaquah Highlands inquires how to subscribe to Connections or pitches a story they want us to cover in their part of town. We are careful to stay true to our guiding principles and stay Issaquah Highlands-specific, even though there are so many wonderful stories to tell in our region. When our staff is networking in the greater community, we often hear from neighboring cities they “wish they had a Connections!”
If you are interested in getting involved with or advertising in/sponsoring Connections, please contact Nina Milligan, Highlands Council Communications Manager, at nina.m@ihcouncil.org.
