As the economy continues its slow rise from the ashes, more than ever organizations are embracing the notion that being good citizens has tangible benefits. Corporate social responsibility has been linked to improved reputation and employee morale, but CSR is not just good business—it brings in business as well. Of course, this is where PR comes in: expertly communicating to customers and other key stakeholders the good works their organization is doing for their own communities and around the world. This year’s crop of CSR Award honorees have ably demonstrated this expertise. In addition, our Legal PR Award winners display innovation and creativity far beyond traditional outreach that has characterized the space. PR News congratulates all the Legal PR and CSR Award winners and honorable mentions, who were honored on March 8, 2011, at a luncheon held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Download CSR Awards Special Issue

Annual Report

Southwest Airlines Company – Southwest Airlines One Report™

Honorable Mentions:

• The Lifetime Healthcare Companies - "What We Heard, What We Did"
• United States Postal Service - 2009 Sustainability Report

Blog

Kaiser Permanente – "Dispatches From Haiti"

Honorable Mentions:

• Tiller LLC - Rob Densen's Huffington Post Blog: CSR Matters
• USANA Health Sciences - What's Up, USANA?

Cause Branding

Mullen – Men’s Wearhouse Attacks “Mancession” with National Suit Drive

Honorable Mentions:

• American Beverage Association – School Beverage Guidelines
• DeVries Public Relations - The Downy Touch of Comfort Program
• Gibbs & Soell and Syngenta AG - Weeding Out Hunger with Halex GT Herbicide
• Jiffy Lube International and Cone Inc. - 2010 Jiffy Lube Maintenance Partners for Life Campaign
• The Walt Disney Company - Disney's Friends for Change: Project Green

Community Affairs

Siemens Foundation/Discovery Education - Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge

Honorable Mentions:

• Alyeska Pipeline Service Company - Prince William Sound Traveling Health and Safety Fair
• Entergy Corporation - Entergy’s Pre-K Program
• First Choice Power:  Food First
• Oracle Corporation - Oracle Education Initiatives
• Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Pool - Trailing Earthquake Faults for Public Awarenes

Corporate Community Partnership

International Paper - Coins 4 Kids

Honorable Mentions:

• Oracle Corporation – Oracle’s Commitment to National Geographic’s Mission Blue
• Scripps Networks Interactive Partners with National Urban League
• Toys“R”Us, Inc./UNICEF - Toys "R" Us Brings Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF to Consumers, Building on the Notion of Kids Helping Kids in Partnership with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF
• Viacom - The Get Schooled National Challenge and Tour
• Weber Shandwick Dallas – First on the Scene: American, American Eagle Airlines Provide Relief to Haiti

CSR on a Shoestring

Fleishman-Hillard/The Allstate Foundation - #Tweet4YWCA Campaign

Honorable Mentions:

• Sodexo, Inc. - PB&J for a Day: Sodexo Asks Customers to Eat Plant-Based Meal to Boost Environmental Benefits on Earth Day 2010
• Toys"R"Us Inc. Encourages Parents to Become Advocates for Children's Safety through the Product Safety Vigilance Program

Diversity Communications

Southwest Airlines  - Join the Conversation: Southwest Airlines First Diversity Summit

Honorable Mentions:

• Kaiser Permanente - Supplier Diversity Communications at Kaiser Permanente
• Peel District School Board - Micro-websites in 40 Languages

Employee Relations

EMD Serono, Inc. - Making a Difference in Society

Honorable Mentions:

• Coca-Cola HBC Croatia – Bike to Work
• Deloitte – Greening the Dot
• Ernst & Young - Volunteer Wall of Fame

Employee Volunteer Program

Discovery Communications - Discover Your Impact Day

  Honorable Mentions:

• Carmichael Lynch Spong – Hitting It Out of the Park With CLRBI
• Charles Schwab & Co – Schwab Volunteers: Giving Back with Purpose
• Ernst & Young - Volunteer Wall of Fame
• PwC/Edelman - Creating a Culture of Service
• Viacom – Leader in Employee Volunteerism

Environmental Stewardship

The Walt Disney Company  - Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green

Honorable Mention:

• Cone, Inc. - Timberland’s “Don’t Tell Us it Can’t Be Done”
• USANA Health Sciences  - USANA Green
• Walmart Announces Goal to Eliminate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Global Supply Chain with Treehugger.com

Event: CSR/Green Focus or Corporate/Community Partnership

CA Technologies – Earth Day 2010

Honorable Mentions:

• Siemens Foundation/Discovery Education - Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge
• Edelman - Brita FilterForGood Helps Jack Johnson Tour Reduce Plastic Bottle Water Waste
• Hafslund and PR-operatorene  - Hafslund’s Children’s Climate Festival
• PwC/Edelman – PwC's Presence at the National Conference on Volunteering & Service
• MassMutual Financial Group – MassMutual Completes Solar Installation
• Peel District School Board – Leadership Now!

Green PR campaign

Lockheed Martin Corporation - Lockheed Martin Go Green Employee Engagement

Honorable Mentions:

• Hormel Foods and Burson-Marsteller - Leveraging a Progressive New Plant
• Loyola University Chicago - Loyola University Chicago Creates Sustainable Campus and Community
• Sodexo, Inc. - Stop Wasting Food: Sodexo Asks Students to Cut Food Waste to Curb Climate Change
• The Walt Disney Company  - Disney’s Friends for Change: Project Green

Human Rights Communications

Honeywell International, Inc. – Honeywell Hometown Solutions- Rebuilding and Strengthening Educational Institutions and Communities in Haiti

Honorable Mention:

• Euro RSCG Worldwide PR– One Young World

Media Relations

Cone, Inc. - Timberland “Don’t Tell Us It Can’t Be Done” Campaign

Honorable Mentions:

• Coyne Public Relations – Give a Day Get a Disney Day
• Euro RSCG Worldwide PR - Yele Haiti
• Hafslund and PR-operatorene - Hafslund¹s Children’s Climate Festival
• PepsiCo - The Pepsi Refresh Project: Driving Awareness and Engagement through Media
• Mass Mutual Financial Group - Mass Mutual Completes Solar Installation
• Weber Shandwick Dallas - Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy

Nonprofit/Corporate partnership

Bridgestone & Meals on Wheels - Together, Let's Drive Away Senior Hunger

Honorable Mentions:

• AstraZeneca Turkey – First Step to First Aid
• Siemens Foundation/Discovery Education - Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge
• The USA Science & Engineering Festival and Lockheed Martin: Inspiring the Next Generation of Innovators
• Southwest Airlines Company – Medical Transportation Grant Program
• Weber Shandwick Dallas - Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy

Philanthropy Communications

RF Binder - Banking on Neighborhoods One at a Time: Bank of America's Neighborhood Excellence Initiative

Honorable Mentions:

• Alyeska Pipeline - Prince William Sound Traveling Health & Safety Fair
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware - Blueprints for the Community Brochure
• Euro RSCG Worldwide PR– One Young World
• Euro RSCG Worldwide PR– Yele Haiti

Social Media Campaign

• PepsiCo - Pepsi Refresh Project: Driving Awareness and Engagement through Media • Yahoo! – You in

Honorable Mentions:

• Fleishman-Hillard/The Allstate Foundation - #Tweet4YWCA Campaign
• Fleishman-Hillard/ConAgra Foods Foundation - Champions Against Child Hunger
• Lehigh Valley Health Network – Cell Limits
• Sodexo, Inc.  – Sodexo Foundation STOP Hunger Scholarship Program Outreach
• Toys“R”Us, Inc. - Toys"R"Us Invites Customers to "Join Shaq Give Back" to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation

Stakeholder Engagement

Carmichael Lynch Spong - Hitting It Out of the Park With CLRBI

Honorable Mentions:

• Alyeska Pipeline Service Company - Prince William Sound Traveling Health & Safety Fair
• ASTRO All Asia Networks Plc (ASTRO) - Kampus Astro Program
• Canada Lands Company - Balanced Scorecard Renewal
• DABO & CO  – Visa: The Launch of Financial Literacy
• OMV Petrom S.A. - Building a Community Resource Centre - CERC Schela Story

Sustainability/CSR Report

The Hershey Company - Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2009

Honorable Mentions:

• American Airlines Corporate Responsibility Report
• ArcelorMittal - Our Progress Towards Safe Sustainable Steel
• Medtronic - 2010 Corporate Citizenship Report
• Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Inc. -  Sustainability CSR Report

Video Program

The Walt Disney Company - Disney's Magic of Healthy Living

Honorable Mention:

• Benevity Social Ventures Inc. - Goodness3.0

Workplace Innovation

Deloitte - Greening the Next Generation

Honorable Mentions:

• Euro RSCG Worldwide PR – One Young World
• The Hershey Company - Hershey's Growing Green Together Campaign
• International Paper - Coins for Kids
• Yahoo! - Yahoo! Employee Foundation

CSR Executive of the Year: Marketer

Leslie Brunt, Program Director, The Pizza Hut® BOOK IT!® Program

Honorable Mentions:

• Jack McFadden, Communications Director - Deloitte

CSR Executive of the Year: Community Relations

Renee Connolly, Vice President US Communications – EMD Serono

Honorable Mentions:

• Bill Bullard, Director of Corporate Relations for Latin America & the Caribbean - Diageo

CSR Executive of the Year

Tom Buckmaster, President of Honeywell Hometown Solutions - Honeywell International

Honorable Mentions:

• Stuart Kirby, Regional Head of Brand & Corporate Communications - Diageo PLC
• Tracy Pleschourt, Director of Office Services - Carmichael Lynch Spong

Overall Leader in CSR Practices: Organization with up to 10,000 Employees

Diageo

Honorable Mentions:

• AICPA
• Amerigroup
• Carmichael Lynch Spong
• VHA, Inc.

Overall Leader in CSR Practices: Organization with between 10,000 and 25,000 Employees

Viacom

Honorable Mention:

• Henry Schein, Inc.

Overall Leader in CSR Practices: Organization with more than 25,000 Employees

Novartis

Honorable Mentions:

• Honeywell
• Oracle
• Yum! Brands

PR News PR Legal Awards Winners

Client Newsletter

• Duane Morris - Duane Morris Alumni Program

Community Relations

• Hellerman Baretz Communications - Bracewell & Giuliani Presents Minute Mentoring® with Dana Perino and Co.

Legal PR Blog

• Hunton & Williams LLP and Jaffe PR - Privacy Blog Influences Global Privacy and Data Security Developments

Marketing Communications

• Jaffe PR - From Branding to Business Development

Media Coverage

• Holland & Knight - Spotlight Shines on Holland & Knight's Kathryn Lehman Following 2010 Midterm Elections.

Social Media & Online Communications

• Caffeine Communications /Warshafsky Law Firm  - Don't Risk It

Social Responsibility/Philanthropy

• Lesser, Lesser, Landy & Smith PLLC - Business Builds Community, Community Builds Business