Anne Arundel County has unveiled its new logo, one that officials hope will lure people to live and work in the county.
The logo, unveiled Friday, is made up of the county name in tan letters, the county seal and a tagline: "The heart of Maryland. The soul of the Chesapeake."
"The motto captures the two pillars of strength in the county," said County Executive John R. Leopold.
He complimented the simplicity of the winning design, selected from 44 entries in a countywide contest. It was created by Robert Brenton of Pasadena. The 53-year-old Continental Airlines pilot said it took him about three weeks to come up with the final design.
"I've lived in Anne Arundel County my whole life," he said. "It's the heart of Maryland and has a Chesapeake flavor."
A panel of county employees judged the entries on appearance, originality, clarity of message and reproducibility. Winners in the three categories - residents, employees and students - received free passes to all county parks.
Brenton's wife, Susan, also entered the contest, as did their 23-year-old daughter, county police Officer Jacqueline Brenton, who won first place in the employee category.
Entries from the logo contest will be displayed in the Anne Arundel Center lobby for a month before moving to Quiet Waters Park.
Use of the logo will mark the first time since Anne Arundel adopted a seal in 1968 that the county has had a new symbol. The county seal, the fourth since the county was established 357 years ago, is a combination of the Calvert and Crossland arms.
"When it's a crest all by itself with Anne Arundel around it, it's not necessarily commercially appealing," said Tricia Hopkins, assistant personnel officer. "We were looking for the message that went along with that. What will make you want to work in Anne Arundel County?"
As of June 30, the county had 4,284 employees and 285 job vacancies. Hopkins attributed the large number of vacancies to a rising number of retirements.
"It certainly isn't because the government is growing by leaps and bounds here," Hopkins said.
Referring to job and career fairs as a "dying breed," Hopkins explained that the county is trying to beef up its online presence and expand recruitment efforts to cable television. The county participates in about 20 to 25 job fairs a year.
"We're trying to have a presence in various venues," Hopkins said. "We hope to make better use of our Web sites. We want to showcase the jobs we are looking to fill and promote career ladders."
Now that a logo has been selected, the county recruitment committee, made up of one representative from each of 18 departments and six from the personnel department, will decide a common way of using the logo.
"We're still trying ... to unify our image across departments," Hopkins said. "We wanted the collective power of using a similar logo.
"If people are drawn to that, maybe they'll follow and see what it's attached to," Hopkins said.
sharahn.boykin@baltsun.com