Iowa Brings Home Two National Public Health Awards

Iowa Public Health Association (IPHA) and the Iowa Immunizes Coalition (IAIM), as well as IPHA staff member Kim Novy, received 2022 American Public Health Association (APHA) Awards. The APHA Council of Affiliates (CoA) Awards Reception was held Saturday, November 5th, 2022. The CoA represents the body of 53 state and territorial affiliates of APHA.

IPHA/IAIM received the Innovation in Public Health Award of the Year. Iowa Immunizes and IPHA partnered with AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising out of Cedar Falls, Iowa to create an innovative digital marketing campaign. The campaign was aimed at meeting youth where they are – places like state tournaments, the Drake Relays, RAGBRAI, etc. – and addressing vaccine hesitancy among that population. The ads displayed vaccine-positive messaging and linked to IAIM’s website where people could find reliable immunization information. This non-traditional partnership is outperforming industry expectations. “When Iowa Immunizes and IPHA brought this unique problem to us, we were amped to find a creative solution,” said Rachael Holland, Director of Marketing, AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising. “Our team first researched to understand why this young audience felt hesitancy, and then we created messaging to directly address their concerns and placed that in areas the audience would frequent. We love partnering with clients to find methods that work and then exceed expectations.” The unorthodox approach to vaccine messaging paired with the campaign’s success earned IPHA/IAIM the Innovation in Public Health Award of the Year Award.

Kim Novy, IPHA’s Business Coordinator, received the Outstanding Affiliate Staff of the Year Award. Kim Novy started her career with IPHA in 2015. Kim currently serves as the Business Coordinator and manages member relations, tracks expenses, designs membership and donation campaigns, and is the leading planner for the Public Health Conference of Iowa (PHCI). Her success in these roles is tangible – she led a campaign that brought IPHA over 99 new members and 99 new donations in just 99 days, and raised over $40,000 with her sponsor and exhibitor recruitment for PHCI – but she also brings behind-the-scenes benefits. IPHA Executive Director, Lina Tucker Reinders, writes, “She is a sounding board, a second set of eyes, a guard rail, and a compass when I need to center. I value and respect Kim beyond measure and cannot stress enough how much Kim means to IPHA and to our team.”

About Iowa Immunizes and Iowa Public Health Association

Iowa Immunizes is a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to protecting the health of Iowans through vaccination of children and adults. Iowa Immunizes is supported by Iowa Public Health Association. Iowa Public Health Association is the non-partisan, nonprofit membership organization of public health professionals and allies in Iowa. Together, we work to inform the public, educate our members, and influence policy-makers on matters critical to public health. If you’d like to learn more about Iowa Immunizes, please visit www.iowaimmunizes.org and visit www.iowapha.org to learn more about Iowa Public Health Association.