SALISBURY — Rowan Regional Medical Center’s Corporate Communications Department took home several awards, including a Best of Show honor, at a recent conference sponsored by a regional health care marketing and public relations organization.

The awards were presented at the annual conference of the Carolinas Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society in Charleston, S.C., on Nov. 16.

The group has more than 300 members from hospitals and other health care organizations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. It is the largest regional healthcare marketing organization in the country.

Winning entries for Rowan Regional included:

* Gold Award — Audiovisuals/Television Programming for the medical center’s “Burden of Choice” video on the dangers of teenage drinking and driving. The video was produced in conjunction with Miller Davis Studios in Salisbury.

* Silver Tusk Award — Patient/Customer Relations for Rowan Regional’s implementation of its campus-wide tobacco-free policy.

* Best of Show for the “Burden of Choice” video. Best of Show was selected from among all the entries in each category.

This year’s competition received more than 450 entries in 30 categories.

Judges scored the entries based on several criteria, including response to issue and clarity of objectives; creativity, quality and appropriateness of materials; and achievement of objectives/measurement of results.

Judging for the awards was done by members of the Tennessee and Florida Societies for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations.