Eccalon Team Recognized with Four Communications Awards

Hanover, MD — May 12th, 2023 —  – For the second year in a row, the Eccalon team of communications professionals supporting the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) was recognized for its superior achievement by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA) 2023 Communicator Awards.

The team received the highest honors, Award of Excellence, in two categories: Best Overall Design and Strategic Storytelling for corporate communications. NSIN was also recognized with Awards of Distinction in the categories of Government Annual Report and Copywriting.

View the award winning FY22 NSIN Year in Review online:
https://www.nsin.mil/year-in-review-fy22

The award-winning Eccalonian team included: Suzanne Zurn, Head of Strategic Communications; Wendy Wade, Creative Design Specialist; Olivia Anderson, Social Media and Marketing Specialist; and David Overy, Media and External Relations Specialist. Aly Gregg, Director of Internal Communications; and Bianca Coffy, Communications Specialist, both from Civil-Military Innovation Institute (CMI2), were also members of the project team.

Eccalon’s CEO Andre Gudger said, “I am so proud of the work this team has done and continues to do to support our Department of Defense customer. Congratulations to the team for this well-deserved recognition. The NSIN Year in Review has been an important strategic storytelling asset for the innovation organization and has continued to set the standard for quality communications.”

The Communicator Awards is the largest and most competitive awards program honoring creative excellence for communications professionals. Founded 28 years ago and with over 5,000 entries received annually from across the U.S. and around the world, NSIN joins an elite group of winners who received the competition’s highest honor: including Forbes, The Walt Disney Company Europe & Africa, Mattel, State Farm, Philips, T-Mobile, Pepsico, and many more.

Eccalon’s CEO Andre Gudger said, “Congratulations to the team for their well-deserved wins. This industry honor is an example of our company values in action: championing every client’s vision with fierce dedication to innovation. This body of work is helping advance NSIN’s mission and set the standard for quality innovation communications.”

The FY22 NSIN Year in Review is the second annual report the organization has ever published. The goal of the Year in Review is to share impact stories about the people, teams, and companies who are making a difference in advancing technology, talent, and policy solutions for national security issues.

Highlights from this year’s publication include stories about:

• Vita Inclinata Technologies (Vita), an NSIN alumni company, that deployed a MEDEVAC solution to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and conducted training on the equipment in a live-fire war zone.
• A team of Arizona State University (ASU) students in an NSIN Capstone course who developed a prototype missile cargo pod loading device called the “Universal Pod Loader” to enhance safety and efficiency for the 3/12th Artillery Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF).
• California-based startup, Neupro, that won the NSIN Vector Showcase Day for its “lab-on-patch” solution to diagnosing conditions such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) or heart attacks in a battlefield or civilian setting where no medical specialists or labs are available. The potential to provide a diagnosis in real time will help save lives by informing the need for treatment and/or escalation measures.

The Communicator Awards is the largest and leading global awards program honoring creative excellence for marketing and communications professionals. Founded nearly three decades ago, the 29th Annual Communicator Awards received around 3,000 entries from a diverse group of agencies, in-house creative and communications professionals, and public relations firms.

NSIN joins a stellar group of “Who’s Who” winners who have received the competition’s highest honor, including Asana, BMW, NASA TV, PepsiCo, and many more.

“The submissions for the 29th season of The Communicator Awards’ were some of the most diverse and powerful yet”, said AIVA managing director Lauren Angeloni. “I am truly blown away by the quality of the work. I want to congratulate all of the honorees for their well-deserved wins.”

About Eccalon
Eccalon is a cross-functional collective of innovative minds that leverages technology to tackle the most challenging problems of this generation for clients, the nation, and the world. Guided by trust, creativity, and adaptability, Eccalon advances breakthrough research and technology commercialization to improve the lives of today and to ignite the promise of tomorrow.

About the National Security Innovation Network
The National Security Innovation Network is a program of the U.S. Department of Defense that collaborates with major universities and the venture community to develop solutions that drive national security innovation. We operate three portfolios of programs and services: National Service, Collaboration, and Acceleration. Together, these portfolios form a pipeline of activities and solutions that accelerate the pace of defense innovation.

Visit us at Eccalon.com and connect with us on LinkedIn.