ICON Speaker News; Silver Anvil Recipients; Bateman Winners
By John Elsasser
June-July 2021
PRSA Names Acclaimed Journalist Yamiche Alcindor First ICON 2021 Speaker
PRSA announced that award-winning journalist Yamiche Alcindor will be a keynote speaker at ICON 2021, taking place from Oct. 17-19 in Orlando, Fla.
Alcindor is the White House correspondent for “PBS NewsHour,” moderator of “Washington Week” and a political contributor to NBC and MSNBC.
As an MSNBC contributor, Alcindor often appears on shows such as “Morning Joe,” “Meet the Press” and “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” Earlier in her career, she was a national reporter for The New York Times, writing about politics and social issues, and USA Today, where she covered criminal justice and fast-breaking stories.
Registration is now open for ICON 2021, which includes both in-person and virtual programming and events. Visit the PRSA website for additional details.
PRSA Honors the Best of the Profession During Virtual Silver Anvil Ceremony
On June 10, PRSA honored outstanding achievements in public relations during the 2021 virtual Silver Anvil Ceremony.PRSA presented the Best of Silver Anvil Award to the Washington State Department of Health with C+C for their “Spread the Facts” campaign, developed in March 2020 to encourage behaviors that could help stop the spread of COVID-19. (We’ll have more on this campaign in the August issue of Strategies & Tactics.)
In total, communicators throughout the profession were recognized with 67 Silver Anvil Awards and 81 Awards of Excellence. The Silver Anvil Award, symbolizing the forging of public opinion, recognizes the best public relations campaigns of the year and the highest standards of performance for the profession.
In addition, PRSA’s Public Relations Professional of the Year Award went to The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Audience Reach and Engagement Team for its efforts to elevate the school’s important work surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The five-member team accepted the award: Robin Scullin, director, audience and stakeholder engagement; Barbara Benham, associate director, media and public relations; Nick Moran, associate director, audience development; Brenda Hageter, social media specialist; and Carly Kempler, audience reach and engagement specialist. (Read an interview with the team at PRsay.)
“This year’s Public Relations Professional of the Year Award, and the Best of Silver Anvil Award, were presented to organizations for their extraordinary work in combating disinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic as well as providing a wealth of resources to help people stay healthy and safe,” said Michelle Olson, APR, PRSA’s 2021 chair. “We owe them all a huge debt of gratitude and it is an honor to recognize them for their achievements.”
California State University, Long Beach Wins Bateman Case Study Competition
California State University, Long Beach, took the top prize in the 2021 Bateman Case Study Competition.
This year’s Bateman Case Study Competition challenged students to research, plan, implement and evaluate a PR campaign focused on reversing the corrosion of civility in American life and fostering more constructive and inclusive public discourse in all corners of society.
Five students, working as the CivilityLB team, developed California State University, Long Beach’s month-long online campaign titled “From Another Point of View.” The goal: to empower individuals to be agents of change, facilitating discussions among CSULB students, parents, community leaders, and the general public on the impact of incivility in public discourse.
Taking second place in the competition was the University of Nebraska — Lincoln followed by Loyola University New Orleans in third place. In total, PRSSA received 54 entries.
The Bateman Case Study Competition originated in 1973 as a national case study allowing PRSSA members to exercise the analytical skills required for PR problem solving.
