TRPA wins Silver Spike Award for their "Tahoe in Depth" newspaper

Tahoe In Depth, the environmental newspaper that the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency created two years ago to help improve awareness and understanding of lake issues, was recognized with a Silver Spike award at the Sierra Nevada Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America annual awards ceremony on Thursday.
Silver Spike awards recognize the northern Sierra region’s best public relations and communications campaigns, according to Anne McMillin, President of the Sierra Nevada Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

“The professionalism and excellence in communication that each recipient conveys is worthy of recognition,” McMillin said about this year’s award winners.

TRPA published the first edition of Tahoe In Depth in December 2012. Now a biannual publication with a circulation of 40,000 per issue, the newspaper has been deemed a success by both readers and Agency officials. TRPA partnered with other local agencies to fund and launch the newspaper to meet a demand for accurate information about efforts to protect and restore Lake Tahoe and provide information about how people can help those efforts.

“It’s long been my dream to publish a well-respected publication to enhance environmental stewardship at Lake Tahoe,” said Julie Regan, External Affairs Chief at TRPA and Executive Editor of Tahoe In Depth. “By partnering with so many contributors and funders, we’ve collectively realized that dream and we very much appreciate the recognition of our work.”

With reporting and photography by employees of local, state, and federal agencies and nonprofit groups in the Lake Tahoe Basin, Tahoe In Depth quickly became financially self-sustaining and is mailed to every Lake Tahoe homeowner. It reaches not only local residents, but also part-time residents from places such as the Bay Area who are often difficult to reach but passionate about the environment at Lake Tahoe.

Contributing partners to Tahoe In Depth include the TRPA, U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Reclamation, Nevada Division of State Lands, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Tahoe Conservancy, Tahoe Transportation District, Tahoe Resource Conservation District, Incline Village General Improvement District, Tahoe City Public Utility District, Tahoe Water Suppliers Association, Lake Tahoe Aquatic Invasive Species Program, Barton Health, University of California, Davis, University of Nevada, Reno, Washoe Tribe, Tahoe Fund, and League to Save Lake Tahoe.

The next issue of Tahoe In Depth will be published in early December 2014. People can read the publication and subscribe at www.tahoeindepth.org.

Lake Tahoe had a strong showing at the awards ceremony with both Weidinger PR and Tahoe Fund recognized with Silver Spike awards for their communications programs.