Governor.OK.gov and OK.gov Receive National Awards

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MarCom Awards recently announced winners for the 2012 international awards competition that recognizes outstanding creative achievement by marketing and communication professionals. Mary Fallin’s official website, http://www.Governor.OK.gov, received a Gold Award in the Website/Government category. OK.gov, Oklahoma’s official website, received a Gold Award in the Design (Web)/Website Home Page category.

“When we redesigned our website, the goal was to provide a functional site that gave visitors easy access to information about their state government, services we offer and the latest news from the governor’s office”

The Gold Award is presented to those entries judged to exceed the high standards of the industry norm. Approximately 18 percent of the 6,000 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries were Gold Winners.

“When we redesigned our website, the goal was to provide a functional site that gave visitors easy access to information about their state government, services we offer and the latest news from the governor’s office,” Fallin said. “The MarCom Gold Award is a great sign we achieved that goal. I want to congratulate my staff and the team at OK.gov for all their hard work in providing my office with a great website.”

Governor Mary Fallin’s official website, Governor.OK.gov, features a never before seen template layout, which includes: panoramic banner graphics, photo and media galleries, and social media platform widgets. The website has a more aesthetically pleasing and modern feel, as well as a more functional and navigable layout.

Fallin said her goal was to have an exciting yet open platform. She said the most important aspect to her was that visitors feel welcome and trustful of the information presented to them.

The OK.gov Web Portal features a completely new aesthetic feel, interactive features, and a cutting edge responsive design. Visitors are greeted with new technologies such as a “Companion Search” utility, which follows users as they scroll up and down a page. The search bar also contains easy to find links to assist Oklahomans in finding answers fast by displaying the most recent and popular content, as well as one-click access to share information to different social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

“We are honored to receive a Gold rating through such a prestigious award,” said Alex Pettit, State Chief Information Officer. “The OK.gov staff spent countless hours brainstorming, designing and implementing the new look and feel.”

Governor Mary Fallin’s official website and the new OK.gov Web Portal is designed and maintained by OK.gov, a public-private partnership with the Oklahoma Office of Management (OMES) and Enterprise Services and eGovernment firm, NIC.

About the MARCOM Awards

The mission of the MarCom Awards is to honor excellence and recognize the creativity, hard work and generosity of marketing and communication professionals. MarCom winners receive well-deserved recognition and third-party validation from a long-established industry organization that has earned a reputation for fairness, consistency and timeliness. Additional information is available at http://www.marcomawards.com.

About Gov. Mary Fallin

Governor Mary Fallin was elected November 2, 2010, during a historic election in which she became the first-ever female governor of Oklahoma. She was inaugurated on the steps of the Oklahoma Capitol as the state’s 27th governor on January 10, 2011. Learn more about Gov. Fallin at http://www.governor.ok.gov.

About OK.gov

OK.gov is the official website of the state of Oklahoma and a collaborative effort between the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) and Oklahoma Interactive, LLC to help Oklahoma government entities Web-enable their information services. OMES is responsible for OK.gov. Oklahoma Interactive operates, maintains, and markets OK.gov and is part of eGovernment firm NIC’s (NASDAQ: EGOV) family of companies.

About NIC

NIC Inc. (NASDAQ: EGOV) is the nation's leading provider of official government portals, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company's innovative eGovernment services help reduce costs and increase efficiencies for government agencies, citizens, and businesses across the country. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for more than 3,500 federal, state, and local agencies in the United States. Additional information is available at http://www.egov.com.