There are numerous awards programs but the three biggies, including PR Week and SABRE, but the granddaddy is the coveted Silver Anvil presented by PRSA.
I attended two of the three programs this year and judged several categories in the other, so I got a great overview of the incredible work being done in our profession. Of the hundreds of entries, PRSA last week picked the perfect recipient of its top Silver Anvil award–the Northern Illinois University (NIU) Office of Public Affairs.
NIU President John Peters and PA Assistant VP Melanie Magara got a standing ovation when the award was announced. They inspired the audience with their account of the university’s brilliant response after a gunman on February 14, 2008 burst onto the stage of a large lecture hall and began firing into an audience of nearly 150 students. When his rampage was over, six people lay dead and 19 others were injured. Melanie and her team immediately launched into crisis mode, working around the clock for several days to provide accurate information to the media while working with university officials who needed and responded brilliantly to PR counsel.
You can get highlights of other excellent PR efforts that won Silver Anvils through the following PRSA links.
Click here for more information about the 2009 Best of Silver Anvil Award Winner. Click here for a complete list of 2009 Silver Anvil winners. Click here to view photos from the 2009 PRSA Silver Anvil Awards Evening.