ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Eight community pharmacies have been named NICE Award (NCPA Innovation Center Excellence) recipients for 2019. This is the second year of the NICE Awards competition, which was created to recognize pharmacies for their efforts to enhance their value, promote their services, and better serve their communities.

“The purpose of the NICE Awards is to showcase the best in community pharmacy branding and marketing – the innovations and redesigns that make promotions more effective and patients’ experiences more rewarding,” says NCPA Innovation Center president Kurt Proctor. “Marketing is the lifeblood of a community pharmacy. The NICE Awards aim to spotlight what good pharmacy  marketing looks like, and what it accomplishes for a pharmacy business and the patients it serves.”

The 2019 NICE Awards recipients by category are:

• Overhaul of the Year – Economy Pharmacy in Muskogee, Okla.
• Best Customer Service Improvement – Jasper Drug Store in Jasper, Ga.
• Best External Remodel – Get Well Pharmacyin Philadelphia
• Best Marketing/Promotion – Brossart Pharmacy Compounding and Medical Equipmentin Cleves, Ohio
• Best Delivery Vehicle – Tayloe’s Hospital Pharmacyin Washington, N.C.
• Best Exterior Sign – Davy Crockett Drugin Crockett, Texas
• Best Internal Remodel – City Drug Store Health Martin Parsons, Tenn.
• Best In-Store Display – Jefferson Pharmacyin Palmyra, Va.

More than 70 submissions were received. Three independent judges – Judy Aspinall, JoAnn Gaio, and Bruce Kneeland – reviewed the entries and selected the winners. Aspinall worked for 15 years at the Chain Drug Marketing Association, an association centered on the front-end of independent and regional retailers, while also servicing wholesalers with products. Gaio has more than 30 years of sales and management experience with IBM and Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc. She currently works with nonprofit organizations in business development and fundraising. Kneeland is a semi-retired industry consultant. After a long career in the pharmacy supply chain, he now interviews successful community pharmacy owners and managers all across the country, sharing what he learns in live continuing education programs and in several pharmacy journals.