Duffey Communications of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, earned the Gold Stevie® Award for Communications or PR Campaign of the Year in the PR awards categories of the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's premier business awards for women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run. (Wednesday, July 24, is the early-bird entry deadline for the 10th annual awards. Request an entry kit here and it will be emailed to you right away.)

Child sex trafficking is a rampant problem worldwide, and Atlanta, Georgia, ranks among the FBI’s top 14 U.S. cities for criminal pimping activity. A Future. Not A Past. (AFNAP)­ was launched in Georgia in 2007 to stop the domestic prostitution of adolescent girls. Stevie Award winner Duffey Communications has played a major role in shining a light on this problem.

Overcoming Public Apathy
Duffey Communications worked with a coalition, including the Juvenile Justice Fund (now youthSpark), to develop the campaign’s name, brand, and strategy – and rollout the initiative statewide.  The challenge over the time was to overcome public apathy, because most people at that point ignored the issue or believed it only existed in other countries. 

This challenge was met when Keisha Head, a survivor of domestic child sex trafficking, volunteered in 2011 to serve as AFNAP’s spokesperson. Keisha agreed to tell her story on behalf of AFNAP to elevate public awareness about child sex trafficking within the United States.

Difficulty Revisiting the Past
Although she was by then 31 years old, Keisha still found it difficult to revisit her past on a public stage. To provide her with the confidence and the necessary tools to tell her story, Duffey helped Keisha prepare for interviews through media training and developed a full-length feature story. This feature highlighted Keisha’s struggles as a runaway, a victim of child sex trafficking, a madam, a prisoner, and—finally—the voice for those like her who are exploited as children.

The spokesperson campaign was officially launched in July 2011, using media relations to develop public consciousness about the horrors surrounding domestic child sex trafficking. Duffey’s measurable objective was to secure 30 million media impressions, including one national media spotlight over a one-year period.

Performance to Date
Ultimately, the initiative was a huge success, receiving over 66,021,000 media impressions (more than double the goal), including an Associated Press interview in July 2011, a rare Atlanta Journal spotlight piece in September 2011, and a national Fox News story in January 2012.

In September 2011, Keisha was approached to be the voice of a campaign launched by the nation’s leading anti-trafficking organization—Polaris Project—to encourage Congress to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. (The Act was passed and signed by President Obama on March 7, 2013.)

In October 2011, the Office of the Fulton County District Attorney recognized Keisha Head at its 14th Annual “Voice for Victims” Awards Ceremony, held yearly to pay tribute to those who go above and beyond on behalf of victims. She was also selected to speak at The United States Attorney’s Office Human Trafficking Summit, held at Georgia State University in August 2011.

Keisha was one of eight “survivors” invited to participate in the 2012 Trafficking In Persons Symposium held in Salt Lake City in April 2012. Later that year, she was an interview subject in Atlanta’s PBA30 TV’s “How To Stop The Candy Shop” documentary, which focused on child sex trafficking. PBA30 was awarded a 2012 Southeast Regional Emmy Award for this documentary.  You can view this documentary at: http://video.pba.org/video/1771774072.

An Inspiration to Others
Despite the many lows of her past, Keisha Head used her story to change the lives of other girls like her and to raise awareness among law-enforcement officials, community ambassadors, and the general public about the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

“Through AFNAP, I was able to tell my story, a story which I hope will continue to help girls facing the same situations I did, and a story that puts a face on child prostitution to those who are working to stop this crime,” said Keisha in a press release. “These girls are your daughters, sisters, and friends. They are faces, not labels—and they are crying out for help.”

On being presented with the Gold Stevie for Best Public Service PR Campaign in November 2012, Sherri Fallin, CEO and president of Duffey, commented: “It’s important for us as an agency to support those who are willing to put themselves on the line to address tough social issues.  This is what brings about change—both in attitude and policy.  There are so many brave individuals and organizations working to put an end to child sex trafficking—and this award added voice to that cause.”

About Sherri Fallin Simmons:
Sherri Fallin Simmons’ experience in public relations, public affairs, and marketing has catapulted Atlanta’s Duffey Communications to success since she became company president and CEO in 2005. While keeping to the agency’s award-winning tradition of excellence–and bringing home more than 600 PR and marketing accolades in the past eight years—Sherri has led Duffey to develop highly visible social responsibility campaigns for issues such as water conservation, domestic child prostitution, and child-on-child sexual bullying. She has instilled her passion for social change into the agency’s business model and its staff through the creation and execution of engaging, effective public service initiatives.

About Duffey Communications, Inc.
Duffey Communications is a leading public relations and public affairs firm, and is one of the oldest independently owned, full-service agencies in the Southeast. Public relations industry media have ranked Duffey Communications as one of the nation’s 12 HOT Creative Firms, Top Strategic Counseling Firms, and Top New Media Pioneers, and Forbes magazine named it a Best of the Web company. For more information, visit www.duffey.com.

Kevin Read, Managing Director of Bell Pottinger Business & Brand in London, U.K., will Chair the Corporate Communications Awards and PR Awards Final Judging Committee in The 2013 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition. (Judging for the 2013 IBAs is now underway and we invite you to apply to be a preliminary-round judge. If you qualify, you will be able to judge over the Internet at your convenience.) Here we talked with Kevin about his thoughts on the world of international communications.

As managing director of an international public relations company, what advice do you have for corporations on how PR can solve international communications challenges?
One of the great strengths of PR consultants, especially those involved with international work, is that they can simplify the way that global corporations seek to express themselves. Equally, they are past masters of finding solutions that will illustrate the core points of a business’s products and services.

Many corporations—even significant global brands—need PR consultants to help them distil and deliver crucial messages to their target audience. Highly experienced PR professional are culturally sensitive to the ways in which a message needs to be delivered.  They are acutely aware of the modern need to balance the emotional with the rational, and the visual with the verbal.

What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
I have been fascinated by the recent business news about the appointment of a Canadian as the new Governor of the Bank of England, one of the most traditional and conservative positions in the world. The media—with a little help from the Chancellor of the Exchequer—chose to portray Mark Carney both as the best man in the world for the job and as a new broom for a dusty old institution that has maybe felt too comfortable behind its giant stone walls. As Mr. Carney settles in to the job, it will be fascinating to measure any gains from improved communications with the outside world against the risks of market reactions to more regular interaction.

Do you have a favorite app that you use for business purposes?
One of the great pleasures of working on international PR campaigns is not only visiting many fascinating and vibrant cities but also having the opportunity to sample the cuisine of different cultures. The free and highly reliable OpenTable app has on many occasions—and usually at the last minute—provided me with fantastic recommendations and allowed a very smooth and easy booking process; and the ability to flick back from time to time to see where you last ate in a particular city is a great plus for the next time you visit.

If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
Most of my career in public relations has focused on trying to resolve urgent yet complex communications challenges in different fields.  I’ve frequently had to spend long hours studying a wide range of different topics in order to get up to speed as an expert in each of these fields. I would therefore very much enjoy the opportunity to work within academia where perhaps I could instead focus on just one issue and spend time looking into it in greater depth.  I would like to make a tiny contribution to the world’s total knowledge of one particular subject.

As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
There are two things about public relations which I still thoroughly enjoy: the first is coming into the office in the morning and a having a brand new brief land on my desk in an area about which I know very little, then spending the rest of the day trying to unravel the intricacies of something totally new; the second is that I still relish the process of pitching—the ideas, the structure, the performance, and, of course, winning … although it does on rare occasions involve losing.

About Kevin Read:
Kevin is a former political speechwriter and management lecturer. His main focus is on resolving complex, international communications problems, shaping fresh, modern strategies, and implementing integrated solutions that are typically spearheaded by PR.

He has more than 15 years’ senior consultancy experience and specializes in strategic planning and providing senior level business counsel. He has worked extensively for leading global brands (HSBC, British Gas, Unilever), a wide array of industry bodies (nuclear, food, telecommunications, cosmetics, beverages), government departments, NGOs, and professional services firms. 

About Bell Pottinger Private:
Bell Pottinger Private is an international, full-service communications business. The company has business experience in 60 countries, advising world leaders in politics and business, supporting communications executives in every industrial and commercial sector, and managing reputations and brands in every communications medium.  For more information go to www.bell-pottinger.co.uk.

Finalists are announced in the 21st annual IPRA Golden World Awards, the top international public relations awards competition.

See the list of Finalists here.

The IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence offer world-wide recognition and acclaim to world-class public relations programmes. The 2013 competition, conducted by the International Public Relations Association, was open to local, regional, national or international public relations programmes carried out or completed in 2012/2013.

The number of categories - and entries - in the GWA doubled this year, as now there are separate categories for Agency and for Inhouse entries. Entrants may submit any number of nominations to any number of categories, which include: Community Relations, Corporate Communications, Crisis Management, Digital Media Relations, Event Management, Internal Communications, Launch of a New Product, PR on a Shoestring, Publications, Social Media for PR, and Technology, among others.

Finalists were determined by an international panel of senior practitioners. Final judging to determine the overall category winners will take place in Cologne, Germany on July 12.

The 2013 GWA are managed on behalf of IPRA by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes the world’s premier business awards programs including The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Questions about IPRA’s Golden World Awards may be directed to GWA@thestevies.com.