PR News Announces Platinum PR Award Winners

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PR News announced the winners of its 2010 Platinum PR Awards to a packed house of more than 400 leading public relations executives on Dec. 5 at New York's Grand Hyatt. The awards, which celebrate annually the most outstanding communications initiatives, comprise categories such as media relations, branding, crisis management, green PR and social media, among others. Also celebrated at the luncheon event were PR News' 2010 Top Places to Work in PR.

Winners were asked to share the essential skills or traits behind their successes. Whitney Eichinger, accepting the Wow Award for Southwest Airlines' Southwest Porch at Bryant Park, said internal trust was the crucial element in the creation of the porch, as the company had never before attempted to take over a corner of a public park. “Never be afraid to go out on a limb and do something new,” she said.

General Electric corporate director of public relations Peter O’Toole offered similar sentiments when accepting GE’s Platinum PR Award in the Speeches category (for GE CEO Jeff Immelt’s Renewing American Leadership Speech at West Point). Immelt delivered the speech in December 2009 at the depths of the recession. “Even when there are storm clouds all around, you can’t be afraid to still try to lead,” O’Toole said.

Among the winners, Warschawski and Lambert, Edwards & Associates were named Small PR Firms of the Year. “We’re big believers that fun and doing great work are not two separate concepts,” said CEO David Warschawski. “We always insert fun into what we do.”

PR News inducted three campaigns into its Hall of Fame: Southwest Airlines' Nuts About Southwest Blog, Weber Shandwick/Honeywell's “Honeywell Hometown Solutions” and the American Heart Association/Edelman for its “Go Red for Women 2009: Our Hearts. Our Choice” campaign. PR News also honored 17 companies as part of its annual Top Places to Work in PR awards program, recognizing internal efforts to support employees’ personal growth and success.

See extended profiles of the winners and honorable mentions.