WILLIAMSBURG— The National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors honored the City of Williamsburg with an Award of Excellence in the category of State of the City/County for the 2024 Williamsburg State of the City video.
NATOA announced the winners of the 40th annual Government Programming Awards on Thursday, Aug. 21, in conjunction with its conference in New Orleans. The awards program honors excellence in broadcast, cable, multimedia, and electronic programming produced by local government agencies, the city said.
“We are incredibly proud to receive the Award of Excellence for Williamsburg’s State of the City,” said Mayor Douglas G. Pons. “This recognition is a testament to our small team’s hard work in crafting an engaging and informative video on a strategic plan that our community helped develop through their insightful input.”
This year, NATOA received more than 900 entries submitted by local governments across the country.
The video premiered as part of the 2024 One Williamsburg Holiday Reception on Dec. 12, and was also live-streamed on YouTube, Facebook and Cox Cable’s WMSBGTV-48, according to the city.
The city noted the biennial State of the City video follows months of work on the its Goals, Initiatives, and Outcomes — or GIOs — the city’s two-year strategic plan. In 2024, the city spent months gathering public input through two surveys and six Future Festival events, which are interactive input sessions where attendees played games designed to gather input. All the resident feedback, along with outgoing GIOs, city council priorities, and city staff input, inform the development of the GIOs, the city said.
The 2024 State of the City video presented the results of the strategic plan development process. In the video, members of City Council discussed the roadmap for the next two years, and Colonial Williamsburg President Cliff Fleet and William & Mary President Katherine Rowe delivered remarks.
This was the 10th State of the City event and the third shown in a video format, the city said. Until the COVID-19 restrictions were imposed, the address was held in person only; featuring the mayor and, later, the entire council as participants.
The city believes a video format creates a more engaging and comprehensive review of the work plan that results from the biennial strategic planning process, and is more accessible to the community, generating additional awareness of upcoming initiatives and past successes.
The mayor and city council will present the next State of the City address in December 2026.
