Communications Coordinator
South Carolina Education Lottery
Julie Huffman has been nominated for the prestigious Powers Award for her significant contributions to the South Carolina Education Lottery. Julie will celebrate 17 years of service to the organization this summer and has been a key contributor to the Marketing department, where she currently serves in the role of Communications Coordinator.
Julie receives a majority of her recognition as an on-screen personality for performing live, televised drawings for SCEL’s homegrown number games. On January 26, 2024, the Lottery’s Pick 4 players had 8.3 million reasons to be thankful for her drawing of 4-4-4-4, which was the first time that combination had been drawn in its 22-year history. With hundreds of winners lined up on Assembly Street near the South Carolina State House the following Monday morning, Julie was among the first to greet them as they made their way into the claims center to claim this record-breaking prize.
In the summer of 2020, Julie took the opportunity to reimagine her role when she was asked to assist the Lottery’s claims center with ensuring that players were served in a safe and responsible manner. Not only did she provide players exceptional customer service with a smile, but she proved to be a fantastic listener, with a knack for engaging players to tell their stories, big and small. In the past four years, a majority of players’ stories have been shared through Julie’s genuine celebration of their “lottery luck,” which is obvious by taking a quick scroll through the many tiles on our social media accounts.
Her talents do not stop there! In February 2024, Julie recorded her 21st YouTube episode of Ticket Crafting with Julie, where her artistic ability for remaking everyday objects out of voided lottery tickets was brought to life. From a full-sized guitar for a Luke Combs promotion, to an opossum replica from the Lottery’s Tiny Stories campaign, or even festive pumpkins, turkeys and wreaths to commemorate holidays, there has been no challenge too difficult for Julie to tackle – armed with foam board, an exacto knife, and a glue gun!
And lastly, Julie has done an incredible job stewarding the Lottery’s beneficiary message. No one knows more about what the Lottery has done to support education in South Carolina than Julie. And it is because of her that the state’s citizens know that when they play the Lottery, they are supporting a great cause: education.
For her abundance of creativity, her charisma, her flair, and her dedication to SCEL’s mission, Julie Huffman – a rare gem of a colleague – is a worthy recipient of the 2024 Powers Award.