Every new business or product is launched with the hope it will eventually become a big brand. However, getting the amount of reach and recall that goes into building a recognizable brand is no easy feat. Barring a few exceptions, most brands are built over several years of persistent marketing and strategic public relations (PR). However, many businesses are so busy building and perfecting their offerings that they forget to dedicate time to think about marketing and PR.

How PR Can Help Build a Strong Brand

Some businesses associate PR with crisis management, and they think it’s only to be called in when a company’s reputation is at stake. Crisis management, however, is just one of the many aspects of public relations. PR, when done well, can lay the foundation for a strong brand presence and can help grow the business.

PR firms and professionals today use an ever-evolving mix of tools and strategies. These include standard approaches such as press releases, conferences, and trade shows, as well as new-age tactics such as social media, influencer outreach, and disruptive technology. These firms also tend to have authentic relationships with the media, influencers, and other partners that might be valuable for businesses.

All these channels, though, are really just facilitators for PR. The true power of PR lies in its ability to build an impactful story around your brand.

“At its core, the art and essence of PR come down to one thing: storytelling,” writes Craig Cincotta, senior director of marketing communications at SAP, in an article on Entrepreneur. “Every brand, technology, product, and person has a story to tell. Whether you are a business of five people or a Fortune 50 company, you need to know how to tell your story the right way, at the right time, to the right people.”

All these channel capabilities and the ability to create authentic stories allow PR firms to help businesses launch, build, and maintain their brands. Also, public relations is often an immersive and time-consuming task that requires consistent efforts. Therefore, it makes sense for many companies to bring in people with PR experience to help with brand building instead of just winging it.

How to Choose a PR Agency for Your Business

If you have employees with great communication and people skills and who are knowledgeable about how PR works, you may choose to do PR in-house. However, if you don’t have the resources or time to spare and want to work with external PR firms or consultants, it pays to do your research and carefully consider who you want to work with After all, you’ll be handing over your brand and image for them to mold.

Here are some pointers as you begin your search:

Look for passion. The firm should be excited about what your business does and should be invested in your growth. Look at their past successes and clients. If they’ve helped other businesses like yours scale and improve reach, that’s a point in their favor. Some firms are specialized and cater to specific business categories. Look for those with experience in your field. Proven expertise and knowledge of the latest innovations or trends in PR are important as well. When you zero in on an agency, ask around. Consider testimonials that speak toward results as well as negative reviews.

ChicExecs, a full-service branding agency based in San Marcos, California, United States, checks all these boxes for their clients. Their team of over 50 people helps companies with PR, marketing, and retail strategy.

“We're not an agency that started just to do PR and marketing. We started because we have such a passion for our brands,” says Amber Masciorini, a senior PR account executive at ChicExecs.

Prior to starting ChicExecs, the founders built ChicBuds, a product line that made it to Target, Nordstrom, Bed Bath & Beyond, Neiman Marcus, and several other retailers. They were also featured on The Today Show, in People and InStyle, and other media outlets.

“As entrepreneurs themselves, the founders know how difficult it can be to start a product line and build it into a successful brand,” says Masciorini. “By garnering exposure in the biggest media publications and placements in major retailers, they had a bird’s-eye view of what it takes to appeal to buyers and the media. They then duplicated their recipe for success and created ChicExecs.”

ChicExecs recently won a Bronze Stevie Award in the Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories for Public Relations Agency of the Year at The 17th Annual American Business Awards®.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Oncology is the study and treatment of tumors. Although three major fields exist within oncology -- medicine, surgery, and radiation, it’s generally understood as a branch of medicine that treats cancer. What do creativity, brands, design, and advertising have to do with any of that? A lot, as it turns out.

Navicor is an integrated marketing communications agency with oncology at their core. In an effort to make a difference in the world, employees use their creative talents to make compelling brand stories that are inspired by real patients. The Navicor team is comprised of oncology experts, clinicians, and award-winning creative professionals dedicated to launching successful platforms that support life-saving therapies.

It’s the perfect example of a meaningful marriage between the arts and health care.

“We expertly use the data to tell the most compelling brand story, but we also see the people behind the data points on that K-M (Kaplan-Meier) curve,” says Marvin Bowe, managing director at Navicor. “Each one of us is inspired by the patients whose lives we help touch. They’re the reason we get up for work in the morning. Or stay up late at night.”

Bowe profoundly believes in using personal talents to make a difference in the world, which the general public doesn’t regularly connect with creativity and marketing to patients with serious ailments.

Universal Truths

Oncology is the most progressive therapeutic area at the moment. With hundreds of new treatments in development, this field is seeing some of its biggest breakthroughs to date.

Bowe lists his organization’s core values. Although oncology demands specific attention—both surgical and managerial—the list contains items any organization can identify with. To that end, Navicor operates on the following principles:

1. We can do well by doing good.
2. Everyone is an idea person.
3. Good work is the enemy of great work.
4. Feedback is essential in business.
5. Befriending our clients leads to long-term business relationships.
6. Optimism is a force multiplier.
7. We should operate with integrity.
8. Working hard requires playing hard with your colleagues

Most of these tenets are tailored to ensure staff members are getting the support they need. The company also clearly understands the value of having fun while at work.

“Happy employees truly do produce the most creative ideas,” says Bowe.

The company’s history proves that having fun at work can yield huge gains. They participate in walks and 5K runs as a team to help raise awareness and money for cancer advocacy groups. Last year, Navicor raised over $20,000, ranked as the eighth-largest corporate supporter of Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Philadelphia, and received an award for the most creative idea to raise money.

Doing Great Work

Most people can relate to that feeling of not doing enough for those in need. Cultivating a genuine concern for the lives of strangers and putting that concern into action is an amazing feat.

Garnett Dezember, the CEO and founder of Navicor, expresses the foundation on which he built the organization.

"Cancer is our cause. Cancer has affected each of us, and we use that experience to motivate us daily."

Empathy and the will to use one's talents to help others resulted in Navicor winning the Silver Stevie Awards for Employer of the Year in the 2018 Stevie® Award for Great Employers.

“While oncology is highly scientific, that doesn’t mean your brand communications should be clinical white papers,” says Dezember. “We use some of the best creative strategies to ensure your brand’s message is received, and our industry recognizes our efforts by honoring us with trophies from some of the most prestigious award shows.”

It’s easy to measure success by prescription data and usage trends, but Navicor exemplifies what can happen when you add award-winning creatives to your team, help clients achieve their goals, and capture the attention of a global audience.

Whether it’s an entrepreneur starting out in an office or garage or if it’s a Fortune 500 company, any business must be visible to potential customers before a sale can be made. In most cases, awareness of a company is created through great stories, which elicit engagement and relationships with those potential customers.

Whether dealing with website traffic, email subscriber data growth, social media accounts, or hundreds of other engagement metrics, they’re all interconnected by one thing: an attempt to create a continuous relationship between the customer and the business.

With so many companies marketing that way, though, how do you stand out in a sea of legitimately competent competitors?

PAN Communications is an integrated marketing and public relations agency based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. They focus on B2B technology and health care industries that want a customer-first business model. They deliver this through PR and social, content, and influencer marketing. They also use data analytics and creative services.

“To bring great stories to life, that’s the core message,” says President & CEO, Philip A. Nardone Jr.. “Those great stories are about the companies—their technologies and innovations—that are changing lives.”

The company’s ability to bring resonant, engaging stories to life contributed to them winning the 2018 Gold Stevie® for Public Relations Agency of the Year at The American Business Awards.

PAN Communications is one of the industry’s most trusted communications partners., It demonstrates that it takes an entire team of dedicated marketing and PR specialists to help clients exceed expectations.

Move Ideas and Build Relationships

Success in any venture doesn’t happen overnight. No matter how good you are at something or how certain you are about how to improve a problem, it takes time to develop and to hone sustainable relationships with your audience or paying customers.

The success of PAN Communications is due to the firm’s unique ability to offer the agility and personalized service of a midsized agency while also leveraging national and international relationships. This allows them to manage large-scale communications programs for brands such as SAP, AppDirect, Radial, and MediaMath. PAN Communications provides services, moves ideas, and builds relationships with customers at a level which competitors find difficult to match.

The PAN Communications business model demonstrates one thing clearly: Successful businesses must make their services and messaging available to potential customers over a variety of platforms.

Give Back and Put People First

The belief that great people can do great things is an underlying tenet of the PAN Communications mind-set. That’s why they focus on putting people and culture first.

“By fostering an environment free of office politics and rich in support and diversity, we believe we can rise above the industry noise and win the race,” says Nardone. “The CEO of PAN believes his agency’s greatest assets go down the elevator every night: the people. Phil [CEO of PAN Communications] and the rest of the leadership team devote time and energy to cultivating the award-winning culture that currently exists at PAN. The agency takes a people-first approach and prioritizes a strong work-life balance for its employees.”

PAN Communications also believes in giving back to the communities that built the foundation of their agency. To that end, the firm launched a philanthropic program, PANcares, in November 2017. This allowed the agency to become involved in its local markets more consistently. As part of the program, PAN Communications partners with four nonprofit organizations dedicated to fighting against youth homelessness. Representing a cross-country collaborative, the partners are based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States; San Francisco, California, United States; New York City, New York, United States; and Orlando, Florida, United States.

As PAN Communications demonstrates, today’s PR agencies must distinguish themselves by delivering exceptional services and innovations to their clients. As a result, the industry is thriving. Brands demand more from agencies than ever before, asking these companies to prepare them for every stage of growth and to act as trusted partners along the way. PAN Communications is just one agency that shows the exceptional results that are possible when that happens.

“Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front-page ad.” —Richard Branson

Richard Branson is the prominent British business mogul with over 400 companies under the Virgin Group and a net worth of $5.1 billion. His insights on public relations (PR) and advertising come, quite obviously, from a great amount of success and experience.

The sentiment also simply makes sense. The art of storytelling has connected generations, communities, and cultures for as long as humans have existed. Storytelling—or, in a broader sense, communication—is a foundational pillar of any civilization, culture, or people. The story and the emotion it elicits are why songs sell and why people celebrate holidays, attend events, and, ultimately, make purchases. 

PR tells a company’s story, and that story often connects a business with people in a stronger way than an often-overlooked print ad or a radio clip that goes in one ear and out the other. PR doesn’t act in a vacuum, though. PR, marketing, and advertising are all connected, and this trifecta can make or break a brand.

PR and marketing services are changing and evolving in the world’s fast-paced, global, and tech-saturated economy. Business analysts already project marketing services will be greatly affected by advancements in artificial intelligence.

Now, agencies are converging PR and marketing services to compete and to rise above the digital clutter.

This makes sense, given PR and marketing are connected at their cores. Offering digital marketing and PR services in tandem only strengthens the deliverables and elevates the brand. This isn’t a new idea; it’s just being reinvented on a digital platform.

SparkPR, who won the Bronze Stevie® for Public Relations Agency of the Year in the 2018 American Business Awards, has 20 years of experience in digital marketing. Specializing in helping innovation-minded companies transform their brands with powerful storytelling programs, SparkPR uses the latest digital analytics to amplify PR programs. Services include content and social development, programmatic distribution, paid media, and data-driven insights to inform strategic planning and to measure go-to-market plans.

This strategy has proved successful. Some of the world’s most innovative startups and industry leaders, including eBay, Electronic Arts, Flickr, Mozilla.org, Nokia, NVIDIA, Skype, the Economist, Trulia, Verizon, Visa, Yahoo!, and Walmart Labs, have partnered with SparkPR and reaped the ROI.

The methods SparkPR uses are adaptable to quickly growing tech and investment programs, too. For example, SparkPR provided comprehensive strategic communications and marketing services for blockchain and cryptocurrency leaders through what they call “Sparkchain.” This guides successful token sales to growing companies post-ICO, and Spark has emerged globally as the preferred partner for these highly specialized services.

The company’s ability to deliver has strengthened startup opportunities. A startup that might normally prepare for months to secure venture funding is able to create a business, launch it, and raise tens of millions of dollars in less than three months.

“Funding was secured for concepts, not betas, and money was often from wealthy individual investors, not VCs,” says Spark's co-founder Donna Burke.

Zucker develops strategies for written and creative content for their clients. She notes that many of the company’s startup clients successfully exit through acquisitions or go public through IPO, thus demonstrating how a successful partnership with SparkPR delivers ROI.

SparkPR aims to constantly stay updated with developments in cutting-edge technology, as well as to maintain the ability to translate those changes into a wider landscape.

“Collaborating with like-minded innovators is always ideal—especially those who are creating the next era of the Internet,” says CEO, Alan Soucy. “It’s truly an era of transparency, efficiency, and trust.”

SparkPR is one example of a company that has sought to raise the global tide and is fighting to stay ahead of the rapid changes. They also seek to be adaptable by offering various mobilized marketing and PR services, which have traditionally been separated—at least by department in the business world.

True to their storytelling mind-set, SparkPR believes their client successes and awards, such as the recent Stevie Award, will elevate their brand as well as their story, as the world enters a new digital age of marketing and the Internet. And, as Branson aptly stated, that story will do far more for them than any front-page ad.

The Stevie® Awards announced today the Grand Stevie Award winners in The 16th Annual American Business Awards^® competition. Winners will be presented their Grand Stevie Awards trophies at the ABA’s gala banquet on June 11 in New York.

FIS, the Jacksonville, FL-based leader in financial services technology, will be presented the Grand Stevie Award for Most Honored Organization of the Year. FIS earned 70 award points, more than any other entrant. Stevie Award-winning organizations are accorded three points for each Gold Stevie win, two points per Silver Stevie win, and one-and-a-half points for each Bronze Stevie win.

10Fold Communications, with offices in San Francisco, the Bay Area, Southern California, Texas, and Colorado, has won the Grand Stevie for Most Honored PR Agency of the Year with 29 points earned on behalf of clients including Agiloft, Attack IQ, and Versa, among others.

Other top ABA Grand Stevie winners include George P. Johnson Experience Marketing (Auburn Hills, MI) for Most Honored Interactive Agency of the Year with 21.5 points and Merkle (Columbia, MD) for Most Honored Marketing Agency of the Year with 18.5 points.

Grand Stevies were also awarded to the 10 other organizations with the most points in the 2018 competition.

The Top 10 winners are:

1. PAIRELATIONS, Centennial, CO, on behalf of clients including Audigy, Beltone, Formativ Health, GN ReSound, Gorilla Safety, Soleo Health, and TekLeaders (48.5)
2. Reltio, Redwood Shores, CA (38)
3. Jeunesse Global, Orlando, FL (27.5)
4. Makers Nutrition, Hauppauge, NY (21)
5. Cisco Systems, nationwide (20.5)

6. (tie) Aflac, Columbus, GA (18)
          John Hancock Signature Services, Boston, MA (18)
7. (tie) Franklin Covey, Salt Lake City, UT (16.5)
           PAN Communications, with offices in Boston, New York, Orlando, and San Francisco (16.5)
            TopSpot, Houston, TX (16.5)

All organizations operating in the U.S.– large and small, public and private, for-profit and non-profit—are eligible to submit nominations to the ABAs in a wide range of categories, honoring achievement in every aspect of work life, from customer service and management to public relations and product development. More than 3,700 nominations submitted to the 2018 competition were reviewed and rated in the judging process by more than 200 professionals, whose average scores determined the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners who were announced earlier this month. The June 11 awards presentations will be broadcast live via Livestream.

For a complete list of the 2018 Stevie Award winners, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

Sponsors of The 2018 American Business Awards include HCL America, John Hancock Signature Services, and SoftPro.

Public relations teams strive to represent people, companies, services, or messages in a favorable light. Ahjo Communications is a public relations agency in Helsinki, Finland that considers itself an organization that achieves that goal with creative fire. Their vision to be known for renewing communications and the communications culture has led them to winning both a Gold Stevie® for "Crisis Communications Campaign of the Year” for their work with Heart Hospital, and a Silver Stevie for Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year in The 2017 International Business Awards. 

Bringing Heart to Work

Ahjo has been the Finnish affiliate of Weber Shandwick since 1992. Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations firm with offices in 81 countries around the world. The Ahjo team consists of Senior Advisor Sari-Liia Tonttila, who is one of Finland’s leading crisis communications experts with experience in various company crisis communications; Communications Consultant Eeva Louko, a former journalist; and Senior Consultant Meri Marttinen, who has a background in healthcare and consumer communications in which she focused on developing influencer marketing.

“The impact has been good. Our clients have been happy for us and the prize has given us new positive publicity. The client, Heart Hospital, is very happy,” says Marttinen about Ahjo’s success with Heart Hospital. “The team is a perfect combination of three creative, brave women who always aim high and think beyond the box—strategically, but every time toward client's business goals.”

Balancing Passions

Ahjo Communications acknowledges that their success has come from many facets of their lives. Senior Advisor Sari-Liia loves to ski, exercise in nature, and come up with great, big ideas for her clients.

“[Sari-Liia] is an example of a person who works for her goals to achieve them: she wanted to bring the world-leading PR summit, ICCO, to Finland for the first time. Her work paid off. Now this year ICCO is organized in Finland!” says Marttinen.

Marttinen dreams of learning as many languages as possible, and Eeva will definitely write a book.

“Many of us enjoy hiking in nature. In addition, we love to read and spend time on other arts. We are not scared to bring out our ideas. We protect small, delicate ideas as they may grow big when further planned.”

When You Grow, They Grow

With effective communication to implement business strategy and supportive, strong networks, future pioneering positions are likely to grow in their market. Ahjo Communications provides workshops for professionals and business owners who want to build on their established platforms to reach career specific goals.

Ahjo does this by designing workshops to meet strategic and developmental needs of executives and department leaders. In the ‘Idea Leadership Workshop’, Ajho Communications helps business leaders crystallize ideas or brand goals in an understandable, pragmatic form that employees, stakeholders, and customers can carry with them and share.

Ahjo Communications wants to help you grow.

From identifying the target audience, to planning the event concept and preparing the logistics, Parker Sanpei loves creating promotional events to help companies broadcast their message effectively. They’re a luxury, lifestyle firm focused on public relations, advertising and marketing, celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. They focus their creativity, ingenuity, integrity and energy into positive results for clients. This work ethic led them to win the Silver Stevie Award for Travel and Tourism in The 15th annual American Business Awards.

A Complete 360° Approach

Finding the right audience for product promotions with diverse ideas for each product can be a satisfying challenge. Vanessa Igel is the Account Executive at Parker Sanpei—she leads strategic media relations campaigns across multiple industries, including the food and beverage, travel and lifestyle industries. She’s excited about her team’s win in the Travel and Tourism category for the International Chardonnay Symposium project that was a smash success.

“International Chardonnay Symposium has allowed us the opportunity to re-engage with many local community partners, and this award could possibly allow us approval from the board to host another event of its kind in 2018.”

Parker Sanpei’s expertise in media outreach lead to widespread pre-event coverage of the Symposium and of the Alliance as a whole. The firm measured 28.6 million media impressions in nine months and reception into regional and national publications such as: Examiner.com, The Modesto Bee, The Press Democrat, WineBusiness.com, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Industry Advisor, Food & Beverage magazine, Napa Valley Register, The SOMM Journal, The Tasting Panel magazine and others. As a result of these efforts, the second year Symposium sold out within a month of opening registration.

Meaningful Success

The Parker Sanpei team knows that passion drives performance and it is this knowledge that compels them to seek a partnership with select clients. Vanessa used an example to speak to their strategy to make meaningful connections in their community.

“With the International Chardonnay Symposium: we took a dead, one-day event and turned it into an international, must-attend, three-day event, partnering with the local community for lodging, food, etc.”

For Parker Sanpei, communication is as much about hearing what’s being said as it is about saying something. Whether you’re referring to public relations, marketing, website design or account management, success is only achieved with open dialogue.

10 Years of Shared Success

Parker Sanpei has been advancing the standard of lifestyle, public relations and marketing since 2007. They’re now excited to be celebrating their 10-year anniversary with interactive and educational events. Vanessa details how you can get involved with their upcoming workshops.

“In celebration of our 10-year anniversary, we're giving back to the community with 10 communication workshops in 10 months. Seating is limited, so register early to participate in these interactive and educational events.”

A meat lovers pizza with absolutely no calories? If it sounds just a little too good to be true, it is.

But that’s how the Stevie-winning nationwide chain Villa Restaurant Group playfully marketed its new product topped with pepperoni, sausage, ham and bacon, labeling it the “#AlternateFacts” pizza.

The name, of course, is a direct reference to the phrase famously dropped by Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway during an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press. At the time, Conway was defending suggestions about the size of President Trump’s inauguration crowd.

Villa’s humorous take on the episode became a runaway success, garnering 85 news stories and raking in more than 230 million media impressions.

Offbeat Ideas that Work

Behind the restaurant’s cheeky campaign was BML Public Relations, a young New Jersey firm known for pulling out-of-the-box ideas to garner attention for clients.

It’s a company that once concocted the “The World’s Largest Mug of Hot Chocolate” in New York to draw awareness for the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council.

And when a competing fast food chain grabbed headlines by telling social media that a “hamburglar” was on the loose, it helped Wayback Burgers steal headlines by offering the villain a reward for giving himself up.

What made the #AlternateFacts campaign particularly novel was the client’s willingness to plug into one of the most highly-charged political climates in decades. That’s something a lot of companies have been hesitant to do, fearing blowback from their ideologically-diverse customers.

There are exceptions, but they’re relatively few and far between. For example, when ice cream maker Dippin’ Dots drew a number of slights from Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s on Twitter, the company offered to host an ice cream social at the White House.

BML’s CEO, Brian Lowe, believes the current environment provides a great publicity opportunity for corporate America, as long as they take a thoughtful approach.

“I think it is important for brands to be involved in conversations related to social and political issues, even if they are not taking a hard stance,” Lowe told NJBIZ, a New Jersey business publication. “There are a lot of eyeballs on the issues and, as marketers, our job is to put the brand in front of as many eyeballs as possible while being as careful as possible not to polarize our customer base.”

The marketing effort resulted in BML earning a Silver Stevie® Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Social Media Focused, which they received at the June 20 American Business Awards ceremony in New York City.

Plugging Into the Headlines

It’s no accident that one of the company’s most successful ideas came from the world of politics. Each day, Lowe and his mostly female team meet to talk about the stories that are grabbing headlines locally and around the country.

Then, they brainstorm how their clients can leverage those stories to grab some of the media spotlight for themselves. The firm tries to generate input from as many staffers as possible until they land on the most promising concept.

“The idea must be able to go around the room without making anyone feel like they are not on the same page,” Lowe told NJBIZ. “Then, when we have an idea that is strong, that we know will generate brand awareness and help our client develop core connections with its consumer, sometimes we have to go in and fight for the idea.”

The strategy is one that worked especially well for Villa Restaurant Group, which was able to ride a tidal wave of publicity because of its tongue-in-cheek product offering.

It was just as big a win for BML, which got plenty of attention of its own out of the campaign, not to mention the Stevie Award, its first major accolade as a company.

The 2018 American Business Awards will open for entries in October. Request the entry kit now and it will be emailed to you when it's availble. 

The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is accepting nominations for the 2017 program. 

 

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT.

The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Full entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba.

There are 29 categories to recognize public relations professionals, agencies, departments, and campaigns.

All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The entry deadline is Thursday, February 16 but late entries will be accepted through Wednesday, March 15. 

Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories for the 2017 ABAs will include:

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's achievements since January 1 2016.  In the communications campaign categories, this will be a description of the campaign: its genesis, development, execution, and results to date

b. In bullet-list form, a brief summary (up to 150 words) of up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of the nominee since January 1 2016.  In the communications campaign categories, this will be a list of the chief features and results of this nominated PR program

c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files, works samples, and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges

The Public Relations Awards categories are: 

C01. Public Relations Agency of the Year

C02. Communications Department of the Year

C03. Communications Team of the Year

C05. Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year
         a. Arts & Entertainment: campaigns/programs undertaken to promote or raise awareness of an artistic or entertainment endeavor, event, or program.
         b. Communications Research: recognizing research conducted for the development of business / communication strategies.  (new category for 2017)
         c. Community Relations: campaigns/programs that aim to improve relations with communities in which the sponsoring organization has an interest, need or opportunity.
         d. Crisis Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with an unplanned event and requiring immediate response.
         e. Events & Observances: campaigns/programs that generate awareness of or document commemorations, observances, openings, celebrations, and other types of events.
         f. Global Issues: campaigns/programs that demonstrate effective global communications implemented in at least two countries.
         g. Healthcare: campaign/programs in the healthcare sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.  (new category for 2017)
         h. Internal Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to inform or educate an internal audience, such as employees or members. 
              - At organizations with up to 100 employees
              - At organizations with 100 or more employees
         i. Investor Relations: campaigns/programs undertaken to communicate information to a company's investors and the investment community and/or to manage the company's relationship with investors. 
         j. Issues Management: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with issues that could extraordinarily affect ongoing business strategy.
         k. Low Budget (under $10,000): campaigns/programs that cost no more than $10,000 to plan and implement.
         l. Marketing – Business to Business: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products or services to a business audience.
         m. Marketing – Consumer Products: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products to a consumer audience.
         n. Marketing – Consumer Services: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new services or promote existing services to a consumer audience.
         o. Media Relations: recognizing effective traditional media relations in a PR campaign. (new category for 2017)
         p. Multicultural: campaigns/programs specifically targeted to a cultural group.
         q. New Product Launch: campaigns/programs undertaken to introduce a new product or service to the marketplace.
         r. Reputation/Brand Management: campaigns/programs designed to enhance, promote or improve the reputation of an organization with its publics or key elements of its publics.
         s. Public Affairs: campaigns/programs specifically designed to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies.
         t. Public Service: campaigns/programs that advance public understanding of societal issues, problems or concerns.
         u. Social Media Focused: campaigns/programs designed to be implemented primarily through online social media.       
         v. Sponsorship: campaigns/programs that promote or create awareness of sponsorship of an event or activity. (new category for 2017)
         w Technology: campaign/programs in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns.  (new category for 2017)
         x. Travel & Tourism: campaigns/programs designed to advance the interests of clients in the transport, travel, hotel or tourism industries. (new category for 2017)

C06. PR Innovation of the Year: this category will recognize singular innovations in communications practice, research, technology, or management since the beginning of 2015.

C07. Communications, Investor Relations, or PR Executive of the Year

C08. Communications Professional of the Year: for non-executive communications, PR, and IR professionals.  There is no entry fee for this category.

There are a number of other ABA categories that should be of interest to communications professionals, including many of the corporate publications and annual report awards categories, web site awards categories, app awards categories, video awards categories, and live event awards categories.

We invite you to meet The 2016 American Business Awards Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, and Public Realtions Awards judging chair and committee.

Now through the end of April, the professionals listed below will determine the Stevie Award winners in 24 categories for communications campaigns, professionals, innovations, and more. See the full list of categories they will be reviewing at the end of the post.

It's not too late to submit your 2016 American Business Awards nominations - the entry deadline was extended to April 19. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The 2016 awards honor achievements since the beginning of 2015.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Meet the judging chair and committee:

Chair:

Jock Breitwieser, Head of Corporate Communications
TriNet, San Jose, California, USA

Jock Breitwieser runs corporate communications at TriNet, a strategic partner to small and medium-sized businesses for HR, payroll, employee benefits, employment law compliance, and risk mitigation. He drove the company’s communications during its IPO and is responsible for TriNet’s external communications and social media strategy.

Prior to TriNet, Jock spearheaded global public relations, customer references, and social media for Dell SonicWALL in 17 countries. He drove positioning and communications when the previously public company went private with Thoma Bravo in 2010 and during SonicWALL’s acquisition by Dell in 2012. Before that, he was global head of corporate communications and web marketing at CallidusCloud, a provider of cloud-based sales and marketing solutions.

Committee:

Zainab Ansari, Director & CEO
Xenith PR (Pvt.) Ltd, Karachi, Pakistan
A Corporate Image professional, Public Relations specialist with over forty years of high profile and successful career in large multinationals and reputable organizations; extensively exposed to Television, Radio and the literary circles; established writer, poet and a free lance journalist. In 1999, established Xenith PR in affiliation with Fleishman Hillard of USA.

Linda Ashmore, Vice President, Corporate Communications
Rambus Inc., Sunnyvale, California, USA
Linda Ashmore is the vice president of Corporate Communications at Rambus where she is responsible for developing and executing campaigns and strategies to clearly communicate value propositions across the company. At Rambus, Linda oversees global communications, public relations, digital marketing, global events, analyst relations, internal communications, and develops messaging in support of investor relations.

Norman Birnbach, President
Birnbach Communications, Marblehead, Massachusetts, USA

Deirdre Breakenridge, CEO
Pure Performance Communications, Marlboro, New Jersey, USA
Deirdre Breakenridge is an author, entrepreneur and the CEO of Pure Performance Communications. A 25+ year veteran in PR and marketing, she has five books published by Prentice Hall and FT Press including her latest title, Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional. Breakenridge is also an adjunct professor at NYU and UMASS at Amherst. She blogs at PR Expanded and is the host of the podcast show, Women Worldwide.

Lauran Cacciatori, Senior Director, Corporate Marketing & Communications
Deltek, Herndon, Virginia, USA
Lauran is responsible for global PR, Social Media and Analyst Relations at Deltek. Since joining Deltek, she has launched its social media program and created training for her colleagues. She also led communications to media & analysts surrounding several acquisitions and earned numerous accolades through the company's awards program.

Cindy Campbell, Director of Communications
AARP Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Cindy Campbell has more than 25 years’ experience in communications and is Director of Communications for AARP Massachusetts. Campbell worked as the morning SmartRoutes TV traffic reporter for Channel 5’s “Eyeopener” newscast for 15 years and worked as an award-winning anchor, reporter and video producer in the cable industry prior to joining Smartroutes. After Smartroutes, Campbell managed communications efforts for various federal and state highway safety initiatives. Campbell has a Bachelors’ degree in Journalism from Suffolk University and a Masters degree in Communications from Emerson College.

Brian Cronkhite, Managing Director
Burson-Marsteller, San Francisco, CA, USA
Brian Cronkhite is a senior communications counselor with two decades of experience building teams and advising clients in the US and across Asia, on brand development, positioning, reputation management and media strategy.

Adam Dalezman, Communications Manager
Synthesio, New York, New York, USA
Adam Dalezman is the Communications Manager at Synthesio, the leading global Social Intelligence platform. There he runs the day-to-day for external communications, including PR, AR, content marketing, social media and much more. Born and raised in Natick, MA, Adam currently resides in Teaneck, NJ with his wife, son and daughter.

Miles Daniels, Director of Communications
Everwise, San Francisco, California, USA

Saraida De Marchena Kaluche, President & CEO
Markatel, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has a degree in Advertising and Media and a minor in Public Relations. Outstanding professional with extensive experience in both Dominican Republic and international markets (US, Latin America and Europe), with 30 years of practice in communications and wide recognition as a consultant and strategist. Founder and President of Markatel, firm Strategic Corporate Communications, Public Relations and Event Management, seminars, conferences and conventions, both nationally and internationally, founded in 1999.

Sarah Dudley, Marketing Strategist
IBM, Austin, Texas, USA
With an MBA in Marketing, I have found my passion in the digital landscape: social media, blogging, content creation, & infusing personality into products and services online. There is no such thing as a boring topic if you are creative enough and understand your audience! Experience in varied industries including IT, Aerospace, Toys, & Hospitality and currently based in Austin, TX working as a Marketing Strategist for IBM Cloud.

Jennifer Edelston, Vice President
Ruder Finn, New York, New York USA
Jenny Edelston has more than 7 years of experience developing, managing and executing effective communications programs for clients within the consumer and technology industries, including McDonald's, PepsiCo, Mondelēz International and Infor, among others. She currently serves as Vice President at global communications firm Ruder Finn.

Joe Escobedo, Head of Communications
Happy Marketer; Future Marketer, Singapore
Joe has nearly of decade of marketing and communications experience in Asia (China and Singapore). He has been featured in Forbes and Chinese national television. Joe is proficient in spoken Mandarin Chinese and is an award-winning public speaker. He holds an MBA in International Business & Finance.

Jim Fanucchi, Managing Director
Darrow Associates, Los Gatos, California, USA
For nearly 20 years I have managed the day-to-day investor relations activities for micro- to large-cap companies as an investor relations consultant, focusing primarily in the technology area. My experience includes guiding companies for their IPO, working with debt ratings agencies through the ratings review process and acting as the day-to-day investor relations lead for several companies.

Lise Feng, Director, Corporate Communications
CipherCloud, San Jose, California, USA
As CipherCloud's first director of corporate communications, Lise Feng built the program strategy and oversees execution for all things PR and AR. During her three year tenure, she helped CipherCloud establish its leadership in the cloud access security broker (CASB) space. At Weber Shandwick, Feng helped launch the tech media team, which provided media strategy and support to the agency's national Technology Practice.

Venancio Figueroa III, Director of Communications
Schneider Electric, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong, China
A communications veteran experienced in developing, implementing and measuring strategic internal communications programs. Capable of designing and orchestrating global leadership and employee communications initiatives related to organizational and cultural transformation, turning employees into brand evangelists, and supporting mergers & acquisitions and consolidations. Skilled at media relations and the use of social media to advance business agendas that achieve desired results with multiple stakeholders.

James Fogal, Professor of Business Administration
Notre Dame de Namur University, School of Business Management, Belmont, California, USA
James Fogal PhD is a professor specializing in graduate courses covering the spectrum of management in regards to technology, organizational behavior, systems and decision sciences. Professional background with 25 years managing supply chain and systems integration development projects and internationally recognized scholar. 2014 recipient of the national TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD by Accreditation Council for Business Schools & Programs.

Cecelia Fresh, Marketing Communications & PR Specialist
Trimble Navigation Ltd., Westminster, Colorado, USA
Cecelia Fresh works in the Geospatial Division at Trimble Navigation Ltd. – managing a global public relations strategy. She has over 15 years marketing and communications experience and possesses a Master of Arts degree in Applied Communications from the University of Denver.

Holly Gilthorpe, VP Communication and Public Affairs
Johnson and Johnson Medical Devices, New Brunswick, New Jersey USA
Holly Gilthorpe serves as vice president of communication and public affairs for Johnson & Johnsons Medical Devices business. In this role, Holly oversees global stakeholder engagement from media relations, issues management, and employee engagement, to brand reputation. Holly holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of California, Davis.

Melody Kean Haller, Principal
Joule Strategic Communications, San Jose, California, USA
MKH has worked been a principle/owner in the public relations industry since 1990, focusing on emerging technology and entrepreneurial ventures. In 1993 she was CEO of the first firm to focus on the Internet. In 1996 she founded Antenna Group, Inc., which she sold in 2010.

Lisa Helfer Elghazi, President
Celesta Marketing and Public Relations, Needham, Massachusetts, USA
Lisa Helfer Elghazi is the President and Founder of Celesta Marketing & Public Relations. She has worked with numerous companies to develop content, branding initiatives, and public relations and social media strategies in the B2B and consumer sectors. Helfer Elghazi has expert-level team skills and works successfully in groups or independently.

Barbara Hernandez, President
BCH OnPoint, Inc., Marshall, Wisconsin, USA
Barbara specializes in crisis management and public relations. With 35 years of experience in all aspects of public relations and crisis management, she has developed and implemented award-winning strategic communications campaigns for many challenging industries, including technology, healthcare, mining, chemicals, oil corporations, as well as non- service organizations and non-profits.

Anthony Herrling, Managing Director
Brainerd Communicators, Inc., New York, New York, USA

Talisha Holmes, Public Relations Associate
Fareportal, New York, New York, USA
Talisha Holmes possess 5 years of experience in Public Relations, most recently at travel tech company Fareportal and previously at Edelman Public Relations working on lifestyle brands AXE and Dove. as an Account Executive, Talishs clients included Consumer Marketing. Currently specializing in corporate communications and overall branding, Talisha holds a B.S. in Public Relations from North Carolina A&T State University.

Svein Inge Leirgul, Head of Global Media Relations
DNV-GL, Oslo, Norway

Aishwarya Iyer, Director of Communications
Whisper, Venice, California, USA
Aishwarya Iyer is the Director of Communications at Whisper, where she oversees all corporate and consumer communications, and media relations strategy. Aishwarya was previously at an early stage venture capital firm in New York City, and before that, was at SecondMarket and L'Oreal.

Vasu Jakkal, Vice President, Corporate Marketing
Brocade, San Jose, California, USA

Jenny Kassis, Strategic Communications and Content Manager
InBusiness.ae, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Jenny Kassis is a Lebanese journalist based in Dubai. She recently co-founded inbusiness.ae, an online media platform and is working towards developing strategic communications and contents. Previously, she occupied senior positions in leading publications in the UAE and Qatar. Jenny has a BA in journalism and a Maters1 degree in Mass Communication.

Robin Kim, Practice Head, Global Technology & Innovation
Ruder Finn, San Francisco, California, USA
Robin heads Ruder Finn’s global technology & innovation practice. She is a 20 year technology communications veteran with a track record for promoting and protecting brand and corporate reputation for high-growth startups and Fortune 50 leaders at all stages of their life cycle. She has lived and worked in nine markets across five countries in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

Corey Kinger, Managing Director
Brainerd Communicators, Inc., New York, New York, USA
Corey Kinger is a Managing Director at Brainerd Communicators, an independent full-service strategic communications consultancy. Her areas of expertise include best practice investor relations program development and implementation, strategic messaging, and crisis and issues management. She is an officer of the New York Chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute.

Jennifer Leonard, Professor, Public Relations Advanced Diploma Program
Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Kristina Levsky, Director of Public Relations
Dollar Shave Club, Venice, California, USA
Kristina heads up Corporate and Consumer Communications at Dollar Shave Club which also includes Trade, Internal, and Issues Management. She has been in the industry for over 16 years, previously leading Comms internally for brands like Match.com, ShoeDazzle and Comcast's G4 network, and on the agency side working on accounts like Best Buy, Red Bull, TurboTax and others.

Melanie Lombardi, Senior Communications Manager
Intermedia, Mountain View, California, USA
Melanie Lombardi is a seasoned public relations professional with 12+ years of experience, both in-house and agency-side, leading B2B and consumer brands in growing their profile and elevate their media message. She currently drives outbound communications and corporate strategy at cloud IT company, Intermedia.

Anne McCarthy, President and Founder
Westmeath Global Communications, Denver, Colorado, USA
Most of Annes career has been spent communicating the business of business. From restructuring announcements to CEO succession plans, from thought leadership platforms to issues management initiatives, Anne has a passion for business and a mandate for crisp and clear communications.In 2010, she founded Westmeath Global Communications, a virtual consulting firm, which offers services that help organizations accelerate performance.

Eric McKeeby, Director of Community Engagement
American Board of Internal Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
As Director of Community Engagement at the American Board of Internal Medicine, Eric brings more than 15 years of communications, engagement, public affairs, marketing and grassroots action experience with an emphasis on education, health, science and urban renewal.

Chris McKie, Director of Public Relations
Gigamon, Sunnyvale, California, USA
Leveraging more than 20 years in-house and agency experience, Chris McKie has consistently crafted award winning thought leadership and awareness campaigns that have propelled start-ups to industry standouts.

Dana Mellecker, Principal
Mellecker Communications, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Dana Mellecker is a senior communications professional with more than 15 years of experience in communications and marketing. He has provided strategic public relations and communications training to Fortune 500 companies & start-ups, politicians, and even astronauts. Before launching Mellecker Communications, Dana directed global public relations for iCrossing, a unit of Hearst Magazines. For his work at iCrossing, Dana received the Stevie Award for Best Corporate Communicator.

Kathy Menzie, Chair, Washburn Mass Media Dept. and Chair, Communication Studies Dept.
Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, USA
Kathy Menzie is an associate professor at Washburn University. She has been Chair of the Mass Media Dept. for five years and Chair of the Communication Dept. for two years. This is her 18th year at Washburn and she primarily teaches writing, PR and advertising. Before coming to Washburn, Kathy held jobs as: public relations director for Midland Hospice in Topeka, assistant editor for the Topeka Metro News, and senior information specialist for the Learning Research Network in Manhattan. She has a bachelors degree from Baker University, masters from Kansas State University and a PhD from The University of Kansas.

Jessica Moskowitz, Freelance Writer & Communications Specialist
Self-Employed, Greater NYC Area, Hudson Valley, New York USA
Writer, journalist, and communications specialist with 10+ years of achievements in corporate communications, public relations/outreach, and award-winning content creation. NY native with coast-to-coast experience (NYC, San Francisco, Boston) currently freelancing and living in New York's historic Hudson River Valley. M.S. in Media from The New School. B.S. in Communications and Journalism from SUNY Fredonia.

Ann Murphy, Senior Vice President
O’Neill & Associates, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Ann Murphy is a senior vice president in the communications practice at O’Neill and Associates. She brings to her role more than 25 years of experience with the media including professional roles in print and broadcast media as well as government, political and corporate public relations.

Rowen Nadia, Account Director
Andarakis Advisory Services, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Rowen is a well-networked and informed, marketer and moderator with a flair for creative writing. As Account Director at boutique management consultancy Andarakis Advisory Services, she is adept at developing practical go-to-market strategies, managing campaign deliverables and content for large scale government, semi- government and private projects and is also an independent contributor to numerous digital and print publications with sector specialism in real estate & finance.

Lindsay Nahmiache, Co-Founder & Partner
Jive PR & Digital, Los Angeles, California, USA
Insatiably curious and results driven, Lindsay is co-founder and partner of Jive PR + Digital, an award-winning Social PR and Digital Marketing agency in LA, Toronto and Vancouver. Lindsay was recently named Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Financial Post and a global Enterprising Women of the Year winner.

Niki Naska, Communications Manager
Eureka, Brussels, Belgium
Experienced strategic communications professional. Proven ability to manage people, budgets and clients, build partnerships and secure new business in public and private sectors. Multilingual, creative, organised and committed with excellent networking and interpersonal skills.

Rebecca Noriega, Sr. Manager, Public Relations
SGI, Milpitas, California, USA

Tor Odland, Vice President, Communications
Telenor Group, Oslo, Norway
Tor Odland is a Vice President of Group Communications at Telenor Group, a top 10 global mobile carrier. He is a senior communications professional with significant experience from managing global technology brands, stakeholders, political relations and issues.

Nick Olsson, Communications/Marketing Consultant
Olsson Consulting, Seattle, Washington, USA

Emily Passer, Director of Communications
Quartz, New York, New York, USA
Emily Passer is Quartzs director of communications. Based in NYC, she oversees all media relations and public relations for Quartz, its staff and events. Previously Passer worked in communications at the Financial Times, and before that was with Fleishman-Hillards Marketing-Communications group in New York. Originally from Kansas City, she attended Columbia University, graduating with a degree in International Relations.

Linda Quach, Marketing Communications Manager
Immersion, San Jose, California, USA
Linda Quach has 15+ years of experience running communication programs for small and large technology companies. Currently, Linda the manager of marketing communications for Immersion, the leader in haptics. Linda was previously at Rovi, a digital entertainment company. She holds a bachelor in communication from the University of the Pacific.

Barbara Riordan, Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Limelight Networks, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA

Sandip Kumar Roy, Manager, Corporate Communications
Societe Generale, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
I help organizations communicate and engage with their most important asset - their people. My passion for storytelling is hardwired into my DNA and I have scripted and directed more than 150 videos to communicate complex concepts through simple narratives and powerful imagery to convey the brand message across the organization.

Ron Sereg, Assistant Professor, Public Relations (retired)
Louisiana State University, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA
Ron Sereg has extensive international experience as a consultant in the areas of media and public relations for non-governmental organizations. He is a retired professor of public relations at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Simran Singh Sethi, Communications Lead - Education & Philanthropies, Asia
Microsoft, Singapore
Simran currently leads communications and storytelling for Microsoft's Education and Philanthropies initiatives across the Asia time zone.He is also the Editor of the Asia Pacific Citizenship blog which shares inspiring stories of people and communities throughout the region who are creating a real impact for a better tomorrow. Simran is an MBA from the Indian Institute of Planning and Management and has an undergraduate honors degree in biotechnology.

Lisa Sigler, Content Marketing Manager
Clarabridge, Reston, Virginia, USA
Lisa Sigler is a Content Marketing Manager at Clarabridge. Her writing tells the Clarabridge story, educating the market about the importance of listening to customers and putting their feedback to work. Prior to joining Clarabridge, she held brand development and product marketing roles across technology industries including cloud services and telecommunications.

Dara Sklar, Senior Vice President
MSL Group, San Francisco, California, USA
Since joining MSLGROUP in 1999, Dara Sklar has driven communications programs for a variety of emerging-growth companies and played an active role in the growth of the agency’s consumer technology, IT security and renewable energy practice groups. Over the years, she has focused on helping innovative companies build brand awareness, increase demand generation and achieve their business goals.

Te Smith, Vice President, Marketing
Recurly, Inc., San Francisco, California, USA
Experienced software marketing professional, specializing in PR. Expertise in variety of market segments, including online commerce, Internet and network security, enterprise software, desktop productivity and entertainment. Well-versed in the ways of start-ups and established enterprises.

Chris Sorek, EMEA Director, Marketing & Communications
Habitat for Humanity International, Bratislava, Slovakia

Sherry Sorensen, Executive Communications Consultant
NetApp, San Jose, California, USA

Adriana Suharto, Manager, Sustainability & Public Affairs
Neste Singapore Pte Ltd., Singapore, Singapore

Angela Tan, Senior Manager, Communications & Partnerships
ASEAN CSR Network, Singapore, Singapore
A strategic and seasoned corporate and marketing professional with experience in the IT and telco, financial services, agri-resources industries and who's passionate about Corporate Social Responsibility.

Han Tjan, Head of Corporate Communications NAFTA
Daimler, New York, New York, USA

Michelle Toscas, Executive Vice President, Health
Edelman Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

 

Robin Vaitonis, Executive Vice President
Tanis Communications, Mountain View, California, USA
Robin Vaitonis has 20 years of corporate marketing and communications experience in enterprise software, networking, cloud/big data, bio tech and semiconductor markets. Her work with Tanis clients involves developing brand positioning and messaging, orchestrating global communication initiatives and defining financial and investor communication strategies to support clients’ business objectives and goals. She is also responsible for the agency’s creative services and content development team which focuses on bringing together compelling content and visual storytelling to amplify clients’ brand.

Chris Vasan, Senior Communications Lead
Cisco Systems, Platforms Automation & Customer Enablement, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Chris Vasan is a communications strategist, filmmaker, instructional designer and writer. For eight years he has served as Communications Lead for Cisco Digital Support, which helps customers self-solve technical issues using web, mobile and API services. Before joining Cisco Mr. Vasan ran his own strategic communications firm.

Jennifer Villarreal, Corporate Communications Manager
Reputation Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Jennifer Villarreal is Corporate Communications Manager at Reputation Institute overseeing public relations as well as employee and external communications to develop proactive communications campaigns and public relations programs. Jennifer previously worked for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Research & Technology based out of the Volpe National Transportation System Center, which is a unique federal agency that is funded by sponsor projects. In that role, she consulted for federal government agencies including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, to name a few.

Mickie Wagner, Strategic Internal Communications
Hitachi Data Systems, Santa Clara, California, USA
Mickie Wagner is a highly accomplished, results driven strategic communications professional with more than 15 years of combine public relations, internal and executive communications experience. She is an impactful storyteller, writer, and strategizer with a knack for quickly learning business intricacies, audiences, technologies and individual executive needs to effectively educate, inform and excite internal and external stakeholders.

Richard Wahl, Social Media Techno-Strategist
DimensionalAlternatives.com, San Jose, California, USA
Richard F. Wahl, B.A., is an expat and a US Navy Veteran who in 2009 founded his consulting company, Dimensional Alternatives. It is focused on social media and online marketing and shepherds small businesses through the ever-changing methods of building community, engaging users and improving brand awareness.

Peter Young, Professor of New Media Technologies
San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA
Concurrently serve as a professor of new media technologies and Assoc Director for the Silicon Valley Bigdata & Cybersecurity Research Center @SJSU

The awards categories include:

C01. Public Relations Agency of the Year

C02. Communications Department of the Year

C03. Communications Team of the Year

C05. Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year
         a. Arts & Entertainment: campaigns/programs undertaken to promote or raise awareness of an artistic or entertainment endeavor, event, or program.
         b. Community Relations: campaigns/programs that aim to improve relations with communities in which the sponsoring organization has an interest, need or opportunity.
         c. Crisis Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with an unplanned event and requiring immediate response.
         d. Events & Observances: campaigns/programs that generate awareness of or document commemorations, observances, openings, celebrations, and other types of events.
         e. Global Issues: campaigns/programs that demonstrate effective global communications implemented in at least two countries, one of which must be the United States.
         f. Internal Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to inform or educate an internal audience, such as employees or members.
         g. Investor Relations: campaigns/programs undertaken to communicate information to a company's investors and the investment community and/or to manage the company's relationship with investors.

...and more. see all of the PR Campaign/Program of the Year categories here.

C06. PR Innovation of the Year: this category will recognize singular innovations in communications practice, research, technology, or management since the beginning of 2015.

C07. Communications, Investor Relations, or PR Executive of the Year

C08. Communications Professional of the Year: for non-executive communications, PR, and IR professionals.  There is no entry fee for this category.