CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. (Jan. 21, 2025) – The Florida Association of PIOs awarded its PIO of the Year Award to Charlotte County Social Media Manager Ashley Turner at the Florida Fire & EMS Conference in Orlando.
In its presentation of the award, the association stated, “The PIO of the Year Award is given to a public information officer who has contributed to the profession by executing the public information mantra – getting the right information to the right people at the right time so they can make the right decisions.
During a crisis or disaster, accurate and timely information tailored to whole-community audiences can mean the difference between life or death. Many times, the most vulnerable stakeholders who need the information the most may not be engaged in social media during blue skies, let alone grey skies.
The recipient of this year’s award has executed this strategy throughout the hurricane and flood events which impacted their portion of the state. In addition, this recipient has made significant contributions to the PIO Section and deployed with our own nationally recognized Florida PIO Deployment Team.
Lastly, the recipient has earned the distinction of being part of an elite circle of PIOs. Modeled after the EFO Program, the FEMA Master PIO Program is a graduate-level program with a nationally competitive application and selection process. The program encompasses one year of research and three weeks of on-campus collaboration and presentation of papers. This past September at the FEMA National Disaster & Emergency Management University in Emmitsburg, MD.
Florida proudly leads the nation with the most FEMA Master PIO and Advanced PIO graduates, due in great part to the training and support facilitated by the FFCA.
It gives me great pleasure to present this honor to Master PIO Ashley Turner from the Charlotte County Communications Department.”
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