The Wildflower Center’s communications team won a University Excellence in Communications Award in the Community Outreach category for its work sharing nature, native plants and the outdoors during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The award recognizes outstanding storytellers from communications and marketing departments across The University of Texas at Austin.

The Community Outreach category included “campaigns to external communities and non–UT Austin community partners in Texas​’; for the Wildflower Center, this included its social media channels, email marketing, website content and video output shared via YouTube. The Center’s award-winning nomination was titled “Bringing the Outdoors In & Delivering Delight Through a Pandemic” and was described as follows in the announcement of recipients:

“The wildflower season of 2020 was approaching as COVID-19 caused schools, businesses and cultural institutions to close — including the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. As individuals and communities were dealing with fear, uncertainty and loss, the center made it its mission to send wildflowers to everyone they could reach. They also created and shared engaging content through their digital platforms (email, social media and web) to help fill hours and hearts meaningfully with the experience of nature. Congratulations to the Wildflower Center!”

Team members include Director of Communications & Experience Lee Clippard; Assistant Director of Communications Amy McCullough; PR, Media & Marketing Coordinator K. Angel Horne; Sr. Graphic Designer Joanna Wojtkowiak; and Native Plants of North America Program Coordinator Joe Marcus. Learn more about the Wildflower Center’s staff here.

The awards were announced at a virtual ceremony in December 2020. View the full list of recipients here.