The city of Wilmington’s Communications Office has won a national award from 3CMA, the national professional organization for city and county government communicators.

This year the communications office recently won the top place award for their marketing and outreach efforts for the city’s successful 2016 Parks Bond campaign, according to a news release. These efforts complemented the face-to-face efforts of the Parks & Recreation staff and allowed the city to directly reach more people.

“We are proud that our work is rated among the best by our peers across the nation and to have the opportunity to be part of something that will benefit our entire community,” said Malissa Talbert, city communications manager, in the release.

The 3CMA awards program is a competition judged by other government communication professionals from around the country.

Wilmington competed with other cities from across the U.S. and was selected from 700 nominations, beating out competition against much larger cities with greater resources, officials said in the release. This is the ninth national award the city has won from 3CMA since 2008.