The Hartford, Liberty Mutual Group and Farmers Insurance Group each won four “Best of Show” awards at the recent Insurance Marketing & Communications Association annual meeting in Cincinnati.

IMCA said Liberty Mutual received the coveted SAMMY Award for its TV advertising campaign on “Responsibility.”

The IMCA celebrated its 50th year of Showcase Awards during the meeting, which recognizes creative excellence in the insurance industry.

Awards were presented by the association in 34 categories covering such areas as advertising, sales promotion, multimedia campaigns, TV/radio, the Internet, employee communications, annual reports, e-commerce, community service campaigns and public relations.

More than 325 entries representing 60 companies were submitted for judging in 2008. A total of 94 Best in Shows and Awards of Excellence were presented to 35 different companies.

Other companies that received more than one Best in Show award were Humana and Safeco.

Other Best of Show winners were Accident Fund, American Modern Insurance Group, Artex Risk Solutions, AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, The Doctors Company, Insurance Journal, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, IWIF Workers' Compensation Insurance, Endurance Specialty Insurance, Marketing Strategies, MetLife Auto & Home Insurance Company, State Farm, The Tombras Group, and Zurich in North America.

In addition, Farmers Insurance received the most “Awards of Excellence”–nine–bringing its total number of awards to 13. The Hartford won five “Awards of Excellence,” while The Co-operators won six.

The IMCA, whose history can be traced back to 1923, represents insurance communications professionals specializing in marketing, communications, advertising, sales promotion, public relations and media relations.