The best in corporate social responsibility and legal PR was honored March 8 at the PR News CSR Awards/Legal PR Awards luncheon, held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Agencies, organizations and communications professionals were honored in 27 different corporate citizenship and seven legal PR categories. (Click here for a full list of the winners and honorable mentions, complete with campaign summaries.) A sampling of the winners include:
- CSR Executive of the Year: Tom Buckmaster, president of Honeywell Hometown Solutions, Honeywell International
- Cause Branding: Mullen for "Men's Wearhouse Attacks 'Mancession' with National Suit Drive"
- Employee Volunteer Program: Discovery Communications for "Discover Your Impact Day"
- Legal PR—Marketing Communications: Jaffe PR for "From Branding to Business Development"
In his keynote address, Ralph Reid, VP of CSR at Sprint, described his company's considerable CSR efforts, with a special focus on the Samsung Reclaim phone, which is constructed in part with corn-based materials. "By the year 2017, for every phone that we sell, we want to keep 10 out of the landfill," said Reid. "Today's consumers recognize that you must have a real sustainability story to tell."
In addition, John Friedman,senior director of PR at Sodexo, Inc. and co-founder of the Sustainable Business Network of Washington, and Colleen Wilber, VP of media relations for America's Promise Alliance, were guest presenters at the event.