Media maestros win new accolade

The Yeltz - bidding to reach the fourth and final qualifying round on Tuesday night in a replay at EVO-STIK NPL top flight rivals Nantwich Town - are the second winners of the accolade which was introduced this season to recognise qualifying-round clubs for their efforts in advertising and marketing their ties while raising recognition and awareness of Non-League football.

After Hanwell Town collected the FA's inaugural award, Halesowen beat short-listed Salford City and Lincoln United to the second qualifying round's accolade by making the most use of a suite of ten bespoke marketing assets provided by the FA for a publicity campaign in the printed press and on social media.

The competition's panel of FA judges said the club pipped their rivals to the prize thanks to the great video coverage and content supplied by Yeltz TV after narrowly missing out to Hanwell themselves in the first qualifying round.

Halesowen Town's proud media team were presented with the Club of the Round trophy before Saturday's 1-1 draw with Nantwich when the Emirates FA Cup was also in attendance at the Grove and more than £200 was raised by the club and the Friends of the Grove for Prostate Cancer UK's Men United campaign.

As winners, the club received two tickets to next May's Emirates FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, paid social media support worth £500, five Nike training balls and four crates of Budweiser.

Halesowen Town's head of media Dave Hawley said: "Today has been a great day for everyone at the club. To have the most famous club trophy in the world here at the Grove can only highlight that football is not just what’s seen on TV and at the top level of the game.

"To be able to raise this money for a very worthy cause is fantastic, we’ll just need to hang fire for a few more months before Sheila books the coaches to Wembley!"

Halesowen Town chairman Steve Lynch said: "Everyone at Halesowen Town is extremely proud and excited to have won the Club of the Round following our second round qualifying victory over Belper Town.

"Our media team are dedicated to bringing our fans the best possible video, photographic and social media coverage and the extra exposure Emirates and the FA have given to this competition has been paramount in raising awareness of football at our level."

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