Be Responsible campaign wins First Place at government communications awards in Washington DC

Washington DC, the USA (13 June 2014) -- The public engagement campaign “Be Responsible. Zero Grey Economy” has won the First Place in the Mobile category of the annual Blue Pencil & Gold Screen Awards, organized by the United States National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC).

The campaign from Montenegro has won this prestigious award competing with some of the best communications projects nominated this year by U.S. public administration bodies at the federal, state and local level.

The winning trophy was handed to Vuk Vujnovic, the campaign coordinator with the Public Relations Bureau of the Government of Montenegro, at a ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington on Thursday evening (Eastern Time).

“We owe this success, first and foremost, to responsible citizens who have not only helped the authorities to tackle grey economy more effectively, but who have also diverted a significant amount of money from grey economy into social good. We share this award with our partners from the Podgorica Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UNDP Montenegro and British Embassy in Podgorica, without whose advanced academic knowledge, expertise and financial support this campaign would not be possible,” said Vujnovic.

Giving the reasons for presenting this significant award to the Be Responsible campaign, NAGC President-elect John Verrico said: “The judges were impressed by how effectively the Government of Montenegro managed to bring together the existing resources and skills within the Montenegrin society and motivate citizens to engage in addressing such a critical, and yet sensitive, economic issue.”

The award-winning campaign is part of the project of “Engaging citizens in fight against grey economy”, which is being implemented by the Government of Montenegro, in cooperation with the Podgorica Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UNDP Montenegro and the British Embassy in Podgorica.

The National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) was established in 1975 and is the only nation-wide professional network of government communicators at federal, state and local level in the United States.

NAGC members are communications officials guided by the highest ethical and professional standards of communication between public institutions and citizens.