Pensions & Investments will recognize 68 winning communication campaigns with an Eddy Award at its upcoming Defined Contribution Spring Virtual Series in March.
Communication campaigns competed in six categories: plan conversions/403(b) consolidations, financial wellness, plan transitions, pre-retirement preparation, ongoing investment education and special projects. Plan sponsors and service providers associated with the winning entries will be recognized during the virtual conference March 8-11. First-place winners in each category are listed below. The full list of winners will be published in P&I and at pionline.com on March 22.
Conversions
In the conversions/403(b) consolidations category, Nestle received a first-place award for corporate plans with more than 5,000 participants, while ND Paper received a first place for corporate plans with 1,000 to 5,000 participants (service provider: Principal). Three other first-place winners in the conversions category were State Universities Retirement System (Illinois) (Voya Financial) for public plans with more than 5,000 participants; Virginia Retirement System's Optional Retirement Plan for Higher Education (TIAA-CREF), public plans with 1,000 to 5,000 participants; and Howard University (TIAA) for not-for-profit/other plans with more than 5,000 participants.
Financial wellness
In the financial wellness category, RELX (Segal Benz) received a first-place award among corporate plans with more than 5,000 participants. Seagate (Segal Benz) tied for first place with Phifer among corporate plans with 1,000 to 5,000 participants. Among not-for-profit/other plans, NYU Langone Health (TIAA), received first place, more than 5,000 participants; USA Swimming (OneAmerica) and the Foundation for Early Childhood Education (OneAmerica) tied for first place, fewer than 1,000 participants each. Virginia Retirement System (iGrad/Enrich) took first place among public plans with more than 5,000 participants.
Plan transitions
In the plan transitions category, Avangrid (T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services) landed the top award for corporate plans with more than 5,000 participants, while City of Tuscon (Empower Retirement) took first place among public plans with 1,000 to 5,000 participants.
Pre-retirement preparation
In the pre-retirement preparation category, there were four first-place stars in different segments, all with 5,000 or more participants: corporate, Illinois Tool Works (ROC Group); not-for-profit/other, ABA Retirement Funds (Voya Financial); union, United Airlines (Schwab Retirement Plan Services); and public, Employees Retirement System of Texas (Empower Retirement)
Six first-place winners were recognized in the special projects category: DTE Energy (Empower Retirement), corporate plans, more than 5,000 participants; Mercedes-Benz U.S. International (Voya Financial), corporate plans, 1,000 to 5,000 participants; Red Wing Shoe (Transamerica), corporate plans with less than 1,000 participants; CalTech (TIAA), not-for-profit/other, more than 5,000 participants; University of Texas at Dallas (Lincoln Financial Group), not-for-profit/other, 1,000 to 5,000 participants; and County of San Bernardino (Voya Financial), public, more than 5,000 participants.
Ongoing investment education
Among corporate plans, Sony Corp. of America (T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services), more than 5,000 participants, won first place. Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board won first place for public plans with more than 5,000 participants.
Generic campaigns
In addition to honoring sponsors and their service providers, the Eddy Awards judges also cited generic education efforts by service providers. MassMutual won first place in special projects; intellicents won first place in special projects focused on COVID-19 communications; BrightPlan and CAPTRUST tied for first place in financial wellness; and T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services and Millennium Advisory Services tied for first place in ongoing investment education.
