Philadelphia PRSA Pepperpot & Achievement Awards Honor
PR's Best and Brightest; Kelly Michener Inc. Wins 'Best of Show'
for
Turkey Hill Dairy Campaign
PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2002--
Simon Public Relations Group Wins Six Pepperpots
On Wednesday, December 4, The Philadelphia Public
Relations Society of America (PRSA) Chapter held the 34th annual
Pepperpot & Achievement Awards in the Crystal Tea Room, Wanamaker
Building to recognize the region's premiere public relations programs
and professionals.
2002
Pepperpot Award Winners
KYW-TV news anchor Pat Ciarrocchi, who emceed
the event, said, "As a news broadcaster of 20 years in Philadelphia,
I have a great appreciation for the work you do in public relations.
For me, at times, you've been a bridge to the community. While you
serve your clients and sell products, I believe your commitment
to information and understanding comes first."
Ciarrocchi presented 36 Pepperpots to area public
relations and marketing communications agencies, corporations, nonprofits,
government institutions and educational organizations for their
work in 2002 that demonstrated excellence and creativity in PR.
Included was the coveted Best of Show award, won by Kelly Michener
Inc., a marketing, branding and communications agency based in Lancaster,
Pa. Simon Public Relations Group won six Pepperpots, the most of
any organization at this year's event.
Chapter president, Dina Tau said, "Our heartfelt
congratulations go to the winners and runners-up. We would also
like to thank all of the entrants for their excellent work, which
made the judging extremely competitive."
In addition to Best of Show, Kelly Michener's
"Roll Over Cheesesteaks, Here Comes Philadelphia Style Ice
Cream" campaign won a Pepperpot in the Marketing Communications
- New Products category. This was their first-ever submission to
the Pepperpot Awards.
Three of Simon Public Relations Group's six Pepperpots
were awarded for campaigns run with PNC Bank, "PNC and Camden:
Banking on Community" in the Community Relations category,
"PNC Bank's Chairman's Challenge" for Internal Communications
and "Live from Philadelphia: The 12 Days of Christmas"
for audio/visual programs.
Overall, agencies won 23 Pepperpots. Tattar Richards-DBC
won three, including the Kimmel Center's "Fun in the Air-Conditioned
Sun" summer program, and a fundraising award with Philadelphia
Suburban Corp. for the families of the victims of United Airlines
Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
The following organizations also won multiple Pepperpots: The Brownstein
Group (2), Star/Rosen Public Relations (2) FCF Schmidt Public Relations
and SpeakEasy Communications(2).
Star/Rosen added a bit of theater to the evening
when the hero of their "Introducing the Caring Coach for New
Jersey Family Care" campaign, a mechanical man a la Robbie
the Robot from the 1960's TV program "Lost in Space,"
rolled in to accept his award. Thanking the chapter, Coach quoted
Sally Field exclaiming, "You like me! You really like me!"
Nonprofits won nine awards overall, including
two each by last year's "Best of Show" winner, The American
Cancer Society, WHYY-TV and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia also won a Pepperpot for
its "Celebrating 100 Years of Building Community," anniversary
event.
Several special recognition awards were presented
to individuals who have made exceptional or lifetime contributions
to public relations: The President's Award (Laurel O'Brien, APR,
John Nuveen & Co., Inc.), the Maxine Elkin Award (John Moscatelli,
APR, Anne Klein & Associates), the DeAnne White Award (Ellen
Toplin, Toplin & Associates), and the Anthony Fulginiti Award
(Larry Litwin, APR, Rowan University).
The Frank X. Long Award, which honors a public
relations professional who practices and professes passion and excellence
in PR, was awarded to Sylvia Kauders. An actor as well as a PR professional,
Kauders embodied the attributes of grandmother, composition teacher
and field general in her acceptance speech, as she decried the poor
quality of writing she often sees from PR pros and journalists and
admonished the junior PR practitioners in the audience to write
well and always use correct grammar.
The awards were enhanced by a new judging format
that included 15 new categories and attracted a record 95 entries
- nearly double from last year.
"We developed this format to more accurately
reflect the distinct practice areas that exist within the public
relations profession, as well as the proliferation of public relations
practitioners and programs throughout the Delaware Valley,"
said Tau. "The great number of entries we received indicates
and that the profession is strong and diverse in this region, and
that PR continues to be vital to the strategic communications plans
of many organizations."
The Pepperpots are open to any individual or organization
that has executed a public relations program in the Delaware Valley
or has conducted a program in another market but is a member of
the chapter, or is based in the Delaware Valley. Entries are judged
by the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the PRSA.
The Pepperpots were so named in 1968 by Bill Parker,
APR, then-Chapter President and leader of Campbell Soup communications.
He suggested the name to conjure up excitement, liveliness, and
good-humored intrigue. "Like Philly's famous soup," Parker
said, "we put everything we have into all of our public relations
campaigns."
The famous pepper pot soup originated during Washington's
siege at Valley Forge. When Washington demanded a stomach-filling
dish for his soldiers, the cook, after remarking, "There are
only a few scraps in the kitchen," produced this fragrant soup.
Tripe, peppercorns and all the scraps went into the caldron and
made this excellent soup. It soon put the men into such high spirits
they cried out, "Bring on the Red Coats!"
Celebrating its 50th anniversary from September
2002 to September 2003, the Philadelphia chapter of the PRSA is
a vital resource for communications professionals throughout the
Greater Philadelphia region. One of the largest PRSA chapters in
the country, it offers its more than 450 members a variety of services
including professional development, mentoring, networking, the region's
preeminent communications job bank, and an opportunity to earn professional
accreditation through the APR exam, PR's highest professional designation.
CONTACT: Philadelphia
Public Relations Society of America
Jonathan Morein, 267/532-1290
jmorein@dudnyk.com
2002 Pepperpot Winners
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