Company: Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Annapolis, MD
Company Description: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's mission is the Save the Bay (TM), and keep it saved, as defined by reaching a 70 on CBF's health index. For more than four decades, CBF has run the largest and most successful environmental education program in the nation. We also focus efforts on advocacy, litigation, and restoration. Our top priority is to defend and implement the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Issues Management

Nomination Title: Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Response to the State of the Bay

Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is the largest regional non-profit conservation organization working solely to save the Bay. CBF leverages many communication tools to support our mission, including scientific reports. Our signature report, the State of the Bay report, was first issued and disseminated widely to the press in 1998. Its job is to answer a common question: How is the Bay doing? Between 1998 and 2010, we issued the report annually. Beginning 2011, we have released the report every other year. The 2012 State of the Bay report was released in early January 2013.

Using the best available science, our report reviews 13 indicators of water quality in three categories–pollution, habitat, and fisheries. The 2012 score, a 32 out of a 100, is up 1 point from the previous report, underscoring our sobering message that the Bay, though slowly improving, is still a system dangerously out of balance.

CBF includes four side bar stories in our State of the Bay reports. They bring the data to life and educate readers on CBF priorities. This year, two of them highlighted the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint, the new, mandatory federal/state effort to reduce pollution by about 25 percent by 2025. Defending and seeing to the full implementation of the Blueprint is CBF’s primary focus. We also featured a sidebar on successful efforts to reduce stormwater pollution in creative and cost-effective ways. This was an important story because reducing pollution from stormwater, which the Blueprint requires, is expensive. CBF used the State of the Bay report–and other means–to drive home the message that costs can be reduced. Our final side bar was about protecting the menhaden, sometimes called “the most important fish in the sea.” At the time, menhaden were the center of a heated political debate in Virginia, a debate that has since concluded favorably.

The release’s timing was strategic. Arriving in reporters’ inboxes just after the holidays, when the press is typically hungry for fresh news, increased our chances for broad coverage. The timing also coincided with the beginning of legislative sessions in Maryland and Virginia and therefore provided an excellent opportunity to educate representatives.

Our report has been copied by countless agencies and localities. Each year, there is concern about the report being considered “old news.” This has never been the case, and the results this year prove that claim. The report was covered by over 50 newspaper and news blog stories, over 30 radio stations (including major NPR outlets), and about 41 television news stories. While we do not have accurate circulation and audience numbers for all outlets, we estimate the report was in front of about four million people. In addition, for the first time ever, CBF “live-Tweeted” from the press conference. These “Tweets” were shared by major decision-makers throughout the watershed, an unprecedented event for our social media efforts.

Finally, the State of the Bay included graphics and writing from top-notch professionals boasting over 50 years of combined experience in publishing. It is these talents, combined with excellent research, that we attribute to the success of this report.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that carried out this campaign:

Growing up sailing on the Chesapeake, Elizabeth Buckman’s passion is saving the Bay. Ms. Buckman was hired in 1987 to manage grant proposal writing and  reporting. In this capacity, she also created CBF’s cause-related social marketing program, which has been used as a model for other organizations.
 
After transitioning to the Communications department, she was promoted to Vice   President in 2004. Under her leadership, the department has grown into a 17- member team, one of four programmatic departments at CBF, and responsible for all aspects of three functional areas: creative services; media relations; and digital media and community building. 
 
She graduated from the University of Arizona with a BA in Literature and earned  a M.Ed. from Loyola College (MD) with a specialty in administration and supervision.

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