Winning Words!

On Saturday night I was very excited to receive a text message from the Wingham Akoostik Festival gang letting me know they'd just won their category in the regional tourism awards. Woohoo to winning words!

Completing an awards application is a laborious task (this one was 31 pages!) but there's an enjoyable challenge in it, too. It's about taking something tangible and, rather than reducing it into words, using them to build it up. It's finding ways to structure words that give the reader the true experience of something without having ever experienced it in real life.

Applying for an award is a worthwhile process for any business. It requires a healthy reflection on, and analysis of, how your business is going, and winning serves as great publicity. As Akoostik festival organiser Donna Ballard said to the Wingham Chronicle this week, the win “gives us that extra boost of credibility which will help us attract bigger artists and more funding in the future.”

This client is now a NSW Tourism Awards finalist!

I was very excited to hear today that the Wingham Akoostik festival has been chosen as a regional finalist in the NSW Tourism Awards. I enjoyed every minute of putting together the 31-page application form which served as their nomination for the NSW Tourism Awards. Over the past few years, having written various funding applications and completed other copywriting work for these guys, I've come to see that this is a fabulous event run by a great bunch of people which does fantastic things for the local area. And that makes writing an award application for them easy.

Check out the festival in October - there are some great artists in the lineup this year, as always. It's a family-friendly event with something for everyone.

Akoostik wins triennial funding

In December last year the NSW Minister for Trade, Tourism and Major Events, Stuart Ayres, announced that the Wingham Akoostik Festival had been chosen to receive triennial funding as a flagship tourism even in NSW.  Having written the application for this funding, it was great to see this event succeed in securing a grant of $20,000 per year for the next three years to help this valuable local tourism event. Not only does the festival bring visitors - and subsequent financial benefits - to the area, it also makes a valuable contribution to the local community in a variety of ways - including youth mentoring, educational opportunities for local school children and promoting local musical talent. It's a pleasure to play a small role in helping this event continue to be a great success.

Wingham Akoostik Festival: funding success!

It was a pleasure to write regular media releases for the Wingham Akoostik Festival throughout 2014. Following the October festival I was also asked to prepare a lengthy application for a Flagship Event Funding grant from Destination NSW, the government agency for NSW tourism, on behalf of the Wingham Akoostik Festival. It was extremely pleasing to hear recently that the festival had been successful in applying for this funding - which will be valuable as the committee plans for 2015.