In a ceremony “honoring creative marketing and communications,” Southlake received the national 1st place Savvy Award for “Best Use of a Promotional Item” in the Marketing and Tools category for their Southlake Policémon and Firémon cards. These Pokémon themed cards were conceptualized, created, and designed by Public Information Officer Brad Uptmore, who used them to further strengthen the bond between children, officers, and firefighters. “I watched an interaction with one of our officers talking to a child about theft, and in order to connect with him, our officer gave him some of our old timey ‘baseball card’ style trading cards,” Uptmore said. “The child looked at it for a second, but then went back to his Pokémon cards, and in that instant, the idea was born.” Judges stated the Pokémon-themed cards were “a unique idea to engage the youth in a positive way. The fact that kids seek out police and fire people to talk to about the cards is such a great win!” One also noted “this is a GREAT example of understanding your target audience and finding a way to communicate to them. Love the ‘Out of the Box’ thinking on this! Great Job!” Southlake Police and Fire also received a 2nd place Silver Circle award for “Best Video Education/Training” for their “A Whole U-Turn” Aladdin PSA, which used lyrics, song, and a lot of green screen to remind the public how to properly initiate a U-turn on the roads. The video featured Captain Blas Hernandez and Captain Delaney Green duetting to the iconic song, with lyrics specifically written about U-turns. Judges stated “It’s a very entertaining video. I think that this is something that would have an impact on new/young drivers especially,” and “OMGosh – this is so awesome! I applaud your efforts to take something that has been an issue and add some humor to make the remedy memorable.” In June of 2023, the Southlake DPS also won state awards at the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO) conference for the following categories: TAMI 2023 1st Place for “Video—Educational PSA Under 50,000” (Aladdin U-Turn) TAMI 2023 1st Place for “Marketing—Best Use of Promotional Item” (Policémon/Firémon cards) TAMI 2023 1st Place for “Video—Marketing PSA Under 100,000” (George Strait Hiring) TAMI 2023 1st Place for “Best Use of Social Media—Unplanned” (2023 Winter Storm)
