The Hammock Blog

We knew the cover would have to celebrate both that birthday and also the 235th Birthday of the United States of America. So we decided to bake the patriotic cake shown here which is adorned with iconic American images.

What we didn’t know was that there’d be a gift coming for American Spirit and DAR.

The magazine had begun arriving in mailboxes when we received word on June 28 that American Spirit had won its eighth Apex Award Grand Award.

The announcement also fell on the eve of DAR’s annual Continental Congress held in Washington, D.C., American Spirit editor Jamie Roberts and Hammock ceo Rex Hammock are attending the Congress, so they delivered the good news and also joined in the dual birthday celebrations.

One of the best-known and most celebrated women’s organizations in America, DAR has published a magazine continuously since 1892. American Spirit is the latest incarnation, honoring DAR’s core values of God, home and country.

Each issue of American Spirit explores topics that support DAR’s dedication to historical preservation, promotion of education and encouragement of patriotic endeavor.

Sponsored by the editors of Writing That Works: The Business Communications Report, the 23rd APEX Awards competition received 3,329 entries, including 529 in magazines and journals. Only 100 Grand Awards were issued.

American Spirit was entered in the non-profit category, and the judges showered it with praise:

“This is a spectacular magazine on so many levels. The use of typography is almost an art form in itself, photography is world class, and the feature articles are captivating."

We feel much the same way, and, judging from rising circulation figures, so do our readers. And that takes the cake.

RexBlog, penned by Hammock Inc. founder Rex Hammock, has been honored by Youngentrepreneur.com as one of its top business founders' blogs.

Other business founders honored by the site include Bob Parsons, the CEO and Founder of GoDaddy; Guy Kawasaki, the managing director of the venture capital firm Garage Technology Ventures; Virgin founder Richard Branson; and Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks.

Youngentrepreneur said of the C-suite bloggers: "If you’re serious about being an entrepreneur, we highly recommend checking out these blogs and spending some time learning more about these CEOs and founders. They have remarkable success stories that inspire and educate us on how to be better entrepreneurs."

An early adopter and explorer of blogging, Rex started his blog in August 2000. With his commitment to melding strong functional design with compelling content to provide a rich, accessible experience for readers, the RexBlog easily met Youngentrepreneur's standards for its award.

Hammock has sent a team to the Nashville Adult Literacy Council Corporate Spelling Bee for years (and has brought home the big, heavy trophy more than a few times), so we know the drill when September rolls around. But this year, they raised the stakes: Come in costume and get a free pass in Round 1.

Team members Jamie Roberts, Steve Sullivan and Ashley Drinnon arrived to the spelling bee, held Tuesday, Sept. 28, in style. Jamie was a not-so-wicked witch, Steve played a convincing Prince Charming, and Ashley, our intern from Vanderbilt University, carried the team with her long locks and princess dress. Yes, she was Rapunzel—and our team captain.

They came large (winning the unofficial best costume award) but left empty-handed. Team Hammock misspelled “augur” (v. to foretell especially from omens) and “failed” to use the free pass properly.

They protested the call, and former Nashville Vice Mayor and Bee Judge Howard Gentry even let Rapunzel plead her case—but to no avail.

Still, a good time was had by all—even Steve, who just the day before pointed out, “The costume idea was conveniently left out of the recruitment process… .”

Really? Oops!!!

Congratulations to the winning team, Ingram Content Group, who correctly spelled “harridan” and subsequently was showered (for the second year in a row) with gifts, fame and a giant trophy. If you missed the spelling bee, you can catch it on Metro 3, Nashville’s public access tv channel. Check the schedule for air dates.

Hammock's work honored as best of the best with major awards from two high-profile organizations.

An Interview with 'Social Media/Blogger of the Year'

At the end of October, Hammock Founder/CEO Rex Hammock was named 2009 Social Media/Blogger of the Year at a large downtown gala hosted by the Nashville Technology Council. The rest of us at Hammock were especially impressed that Rex's "trophy" is a Gibson electric guitar and that only 10 organizations or individuals received one -- two went to HCA and one to Nissan USA. However, it didn't surprise us that Rex won -- he's been blogging since the Paleozoic Age and tweeting almost that long. (His Twitter account is @r if that gives you any idea.)

Rex with fellow nominees Kate O'Neill and Dave Delaney.

However, we think it probably surprised a few people who don't know Rex that someone over 25 years old won a social media award. But then, most people don't know that Rex's approach to social media is not just about being up on the latest online fad. It's about innovating new approaches to achieving measurable business objectives for our clients. To help you understand why the judges awarded Rex such an honor, we asked Editorial Director Jamie Roberts to interview him about the award -- and social media in general.

When words like "elegant," "inviting" and "grand" are used to describe us and our work, you know we have to tell you about it.

The Grand Award, Magazines and Journals category, was given for the January/February 2009 issue of American Spirit, the national magazine we publish for the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Custom Publishing Council's fifth annual Pearl Awards ceremony took place Nov. 13 in New York City, honoring the best in "design, digital, editorial and strategic initiatives for B2B and consumer custom publications". Bronze, silver and gold awards were presented to 53 companies from more than 600 entries. Two of those awards -- one gold and one bronze -- went to Hammock Inc.

DIGITAL | Best Use of Alternative Media or Multimedia Technology
Gold: National Small Business Summit Website, Hammock Inc. (NFIB)

EDITORIAL | Best Overall | Less Than 50,000
Bronze: American Spirit, Hammock, Inc. (DAR)

For a close-up look at how we developed the winning website, read this recent post on Custom Media Craft.

See a full list of winners and learn more about the Custom Publishing Council.

The Web Marketing Association is a long-term player in recognizing excellence online -- this year's competition was the 12th annual. Sites are judged against other sites in their industry, on design, copy writing, innovation, content, interactivity, navigation and use of technology.

We're proud of the honor!