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Prior to PR News’ Media Relations Conference in December, PR News and partner PublicRelay, a media monitoring and analytics firm, convened a Communications Leadership

They make others look good and know never to apologize when they get a promotion or land a big account. They are mentors and have unabashedly sought out sponsors. They know how to read a balance sheet and understand that work/life balance is an imperfect science. These are the 2019 PR News Top Women in PR. Our salute to them on January 25 during a gala luncheon in NYC yielded a lot of great advice. Here are some samples.

As the PR News’ Top Women in PR awards luncheon approaches (Jan. 25, NYC), we look at why women continue to dominate PR in terms of numbers of jobs, yet are largely excluded from its leadership positions. We asked some of the women who will be honored next week about this and what can be done. They said the solutions should come from women and industry.

Here are a dozen words or phrases to avoid, words and phrases that tend to turn off recipients of a press release—ultimately relegating your pitch to the unenviable circular file.

January and February are considered the best times to apply for a new job, which means if you’re looking for new PR talent you’re likely getting ready to post some new listings in the first few weeks of 2019. Here are three questions you should ask every candidate for any Communications position to make sure the person you hire is truly right for the role.

Experience can be a great teacher. Veteran communicator and 155 Strategies founder Pete Janhunen offers three tips to help communicators excel in their careers. He emphasizes building relationships, crafting clear messages and insisting on a seat at the decision-making table.

Tis the season for listicles. With every holiday party or cup of eggnog poured comes a treasure trove of lists recapping significant marketing and communications developments from the last year, along with forecasts for 2019. Among them, Boston-based agency Pan Communications has shared a roundup of what 19 notable CMOs and influencers are expecting for their fields in 2019. Here are some of the list’s top takeaways.

Among the criteria the judges for the Top Places to Work in PR considered: growth opportunities, the quality of communication with senior leaders, benefits and compensation, turnover rate, workplace culture, flexibility of working hours, career development and training, mentoring opportunities, diversity at the managerial level, gender equality and opportunities for volunteerism.

You’ve no doubt heard the PR maxim, “Act like a reporter.” Veteran communicator Arthur Solomon offers tips on how to do that using the backdrop of cable’s political talk shows and broadcast networks’ nightly newscasts. He also provides advice on the best ways to write pitches and press releases.

On the surface, this effort to give Senator Warren’s claims factual support seemed like an artfully executed campaign. Later that day, though, it became clear that the DNA test had done more harm than good. Senator Warren’s gaffe amounts to lessons learned for communicators about timing, why mixing heritage into your outreach strategies can be a dangerous game, and how to take cultural stand without angering any constituency of people.