The Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office earned two unit-level awards in the 2024 Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM) Communications and Public Awards competition that was completed in January. A member of the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office also earned one award.

Open house event recognized

First, the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office earned the award for Best Community Engagement Event in Category B: Community Relations Special Event. The special event highlighted for the award was the 2024 Fort McCoy Armed Forces Day Open House.

This category recognizes a specific event that supported a command community relations program. Entries were submitted as a five-page pdf packet and included communication objectives, description of the planning process, details of execution of the event, measures of effectiveness, and overall value to the Army.

Contributors recognized for the award include Public Affairs Officer Tonya Townsell; Senior Public Affairs Specialist Scott T. Sturkol; Public Affairs Specialist Claudia Neve (now in Germany); Public Affairs Specialist Christopher Jones (now in California); Lt. Col. James Ontiveros, public affairs contributor and civil affairs officer; and Robin Michalski, Fort McCoy Commemorative Area caretaker.

An estimated audience of nearly 4,000 visitors participated in the 2024 Fort McCoy Armed Forces Day Open House on May 18, 2024, at Fort McCoy, which included a Vietnam veterans welcome home ceremony, Army band performances, numerous military vehicle static displays, bus tours, and much more.

The day’s activities were centered on the Commemorative Area from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which features the History Center; five World War II-era buildings filled with historical equipment and displays, the outdoor Equipment Park, and Veterans Memorial Plaza.

Within the Commemorative Area, there were dozens of displays set up under tents for more interactive fun. Planned activities included guided installation bus tours, a sandbag-filling station, personalized ID tags, camouflage face painting, military equipment displays, marksmanship galleries, the special ceremony honoring Vietnam veterans, and more.

Read more about the 2024 Fort McCoy Armed Forces Day Open House at https://www.dvidshub.net/news/472192/thousands-visit-post-2024-armed-forces-day-open-house-fort-mccoy.

The Real McCoy newspaper wins

The Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office was also won an award for IMCOM Best Printed Publication for Category D: Printed Publication. The award was given for the Aug. 23, 2024, edition of The Real McCoy newspaper.

This category is for printed Department of Defense publications — including newspapers, newsletters or magazines — that support the command’s information mission. Publications considered for this category include those that are printed by a commercial publisher under an exclusive contract with the command using appropriated funds, or those printed using the commercial-enterprise concept.

The Aug. 23, 2024, edition of The Real McCoy was a 10-page edition of the paper and can be found online at https://www.dvidshub.net/publication/issues/71702. This edition included coverage of the 86th Training Division’s Combat Support Training Exercise 86-24-02, a visit by the new Chief of the Army Reserve, troop project work by the 612th Engineer Detachment, various visits and events, and August installments of the Fort McCoy ArtiFACT and This Month in History.

Sturkol served as the editor for the newspaper as he has for more than a decade. Additional contributors were Townsell, Neve, and Jones from the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office. In the edition of the paper for photography support, Photographer Amanda Clark with the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office and Staff Sgt. Trenton Lowery with the 181st Multi-Functional Training Brigade Public Affairs contributed several photos that were published.

Graphic arts winner

Graphic Designer Kendra Pierce with the Fort McCoy Multimedia-Visual Information Office was the third winner from Fort McCoy in the competition, winning in Category A: Layout and Design for graphic arts.

This category required submitting single- or two-page layouts created using elements from various sources. Examples include info charts, infographics, flyers, certificates, CD covers, cover art, and posters.

Pierce’s entry was a backdrop design used by the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security. It features photos of training at Fort McCoy, highlighting the installation’s motto to be the Total Force Training Center. It can be seen at https://www.dvidshub.net/graphic/33122/dptms-tradeshow-backdrop.

In a message to the command announcing the winners of the competition, IMCOM Commanding General, Lt. Gen. Omar Jones sent well wishes to all who competed.

“Please join me in congratulating a special group of IMCOM professionals,” the message states. “IMCOM public affairs professionals from 29 garrisons worldwide entered 312 pieces of content into 22 categories. Their work reflects excellence in sharing and communicating the Army’s story around the globe. The work of these civilian and military writers, editors, photographers, videographers, and graphic designers was distinguished from that of their peers by a panel of eight judges who were instructed to pick the top two entries in each category.

“Winners at the IMCOM level have advanced to the next level of competition, administered by the (Army Materiel Command),” the message states. “The top winners in all categories will be selected and announced by the U.S. Army Office of the Chief of Public Affairs later this year, and those winners will then compete at the Department of Defense level. … Thank you to all our Army communicators!”

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on X (formerly Twitter) by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”

(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.)