Fairfax County Public Schools presented five schools with awards for outstanding school communications at the School Communicators Conference held January 27. 

The 2022 Award of Communication Excellence celebrates the creation of excellent website, newsletter, and social media content that informs and engages readers. The winners remind us of the substantial talent that exists among the community of FCPS school communicators.

The awards are organized by the FCPS Office of Communication and Community Relations.

The award winners are:

Westlawn Elementary School

Cindi Choate, interim principal, newsletter, and Alanna Dushok, school-based technology specialist, website and social media

Westlawn ES elevated its social media (Facebook and Twitter) offerings in 2022 by creating a Facebook page, which grew to 230 followers in six months. Feature stories are shared through the website, newsletter, and social media. Website feature story topics include a visit by a therapy dog, an author visit, a kindergarten field trip, and various classroom activities. A recent video shared winter vacation photos from staff and students.

Shrevewood Elementary School

Kaylin Daniels, school-based technology specialist, website and social media, and Katie Vandawalker, assistant principal, newsletter

Shrevewood ES has a fun video feature called "When I Grow Up Wednesday." Students interviews about their career dreams are featured through the website, newsletter, and social media (Facebook and Twitter). The newsletter opens with a collage of photos and a colorful "save the date" section. Social media contains a variety of content, including video, photos, graphics, and engagement questions.

Woodlawn Elementary School

Laura Elliott, principal, newsletter, and Brooke Nyland, school-based technology specialist, website and social media

Woodlawn regularly creates a "Word from Woodlawn" video, featuring a less-than-one-minute message from the principal. The video is shared through the website, newsletter and social media (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter). Lots of other feature stories are shared through the same platforms. Feature story topics include a recognition of school mentors, physical education obstacle course fun, spirit week, hour of code, and story time with firefighters.

Key Center

Helly Ahmadyar, administrative assistant II, newsletter; Beth Curtis, school-based technology specialist, website and social media; and Ann Smith, principal 

Key Center created a website page to highlight its fantastic ratings by parents completing the division wide engagement survey. Features are created to highlight staff members and include home photos, such as one from a staff member in the water with a dolphin she used to train. The social media (Facebook and Twitter) accounts are upbeat and positive, described as "joyful" by some followers. 

Lake Braddock Secondary School

Cynthia Gavin, art teacher, website, and Kimberly Cox, administrative assistant I, newsletter and social media

Lake Braddock uses three social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The school successfully engages audiences. During the winter holiday, an Instagram post asked "How is break going? Tell us what you are up to!" The newsletter offers a table of content for each issue, making it easy to find relevant information. The website has an abundance of announcements, all school events, and lots of feature stories. The academic advising webpage contains all the information parents and students need for course selection. The newsletter has all relevant information as accessible text rather than posting just an inaccessible image that contains the text (such as a flyer).