It was a big afternoon for Pioneer Electric Cooperative communications specialist Casey Rogers as she took home three awards from the  70th annual meeting of the Alabama Rural Electric Association (AREA), held Tuesday through Thursday at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center in Montgomery.

Rogers took home the AREA Award of Excellence Best Website, Best Photo and, most prestigious of all, the coveted Darryl Gates Cooperative Communicator of the Year Award.

Judges commended Rogers on her still photography that captured the day-to-day lives of several of Pioneer Electric’s linemen as they worked outages in various hazardous conditions.

The Pioneer website drew praise for its simple, effective design and multimedia implementation.

AREA vice president of communications, Lenore Vickrey, said that Rogers achieved an overall level of excellence in being named Communicator of the Year.

“This year’s winner especially excelled in the areas of visual and new media,” Vickrey said.

“This person not only developed a user-friendly website and mobile app, but also showed still photography instincts by capturing the storytelling moments in a lineman’s day.  Producing a local magazine section that spoke to members, including a congressional guide that displayed how and why to contact legislators. And posted an entertaining video on the co-op’s new outage texting program.  For her broad range of abilities to successfully connect members to her cooperative, the 2017 Darryl Gates Communicator of the Year award goes to Casey Rogers.”

Rogers, stunned by the news, said that she was both humbled and honored to have received the awards during her third year at Pioneer Electric Cooperative.

“In an industry full of talented communicators who I’ve grown to love working with and learning from, this means the world,” Rogers said.

“I get to communicate for a group of people in an industry that I truly have a passion for.  The energy industry and the people in it are constantly changing. So I enjoy mixing up our communication methods to resonate our message with our members and in the communities we serve.”

Linda Horn, vice president of member services at Pioneer, was similarly proud of Rogers.

“The entire Pioneer Electric team applauds Casey for this well-deserved award, as her top-notch communication skills have certainly strengthened member and employee engagement, along with her personal commitment to improving the quality of life for the communities we serve.”

The Greenville Advocate was also recognized as the recipient of AREA’s 2017 Media Excellence Award.

“The Greenville Advocate has earned the media excellence award this year for its broad and deep commitment to being a partner with the community in ways that make area residents well-informed citizens,” Vickrey said.  “The newspaper’s coverage of co-op related issues ranged from storm stories to school activities to annual meetings or reports on the Youth Tour both after the activity and for recruiting participants.”

“The Greenville Advocate addresses and reaches a variety of communication audiences through their website and social media sources with a local presence, and professional quality that rivals larger newspaper sources,” said Terry Moseley, Pioneer Electric’s executive vice president and general manager.