The State of Alabama’s tourism department, in conjunction with the marketing company Luckie, recently won an award for the marketing campaign promoting the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

The official award received is called the “Best Destination Campaign” for a region. It was the only American entry on the group’s shortlist.

“For the first time an American state has won an international award for tourism marketing … and that’s pretty thrilling,” Alabama Tourism Director Lee Sentell told WSFA.

The tourism department’s partner in the effort was the communications firm Luckie, which is based in Birmingham with an office in Atlanta.

“This campaign was a full-scale effort for Luckie and it’s been so successful because of our longtime partnership with Alabama Tourism,” Luckie president John Gardner told the Birmingham Business Journal.

The body presenting the award is named “World Travel Market” which, according to their website, is a group that aims to “enable the growth and development of the global travel industry.”

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail is a collection of several dozen important civil rights sites across 14 states. Alabama led the effort to organize the collection with assistance from TravelSouth USA and the National Park Service.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.