Raleigh Public Relations Society

The Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS) aims to advance the art and science of public relations and to strengthen communication, understanding and cooperation among the diverse individuals, groups, and institutions of the Society.

Events

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RPRS Spring Social in Review

Thank you, Backyard Bistro, for putting together such a fantastic spread for our Spring Networking Social this morning!

We had a great turnout of members and guests who arrived bright and early for the chance to meet fellow local public relations and communications professionals via an informal, but super effective session of speed networking.

Our icebreaker question, “What superpower would you like to have?”, generated lots of fun responses: time travel, teleportation, and of course, what every communications practitioner would love to have… the ability to read our clients minds! The icebreaker was a great way to kick off discussions at each table over the tasty breakfast spread catered by our gracious hosts at Backyard Bistro.

Check out our very first Periscope video for a look at this morning’s event.

This recap wouldn’t be complete without a special shout-out to RPRS Membership, Chair Olivia Easly, who coordinated a great event for us today — especially on her first day of vacation from the office!

If you couldn’t make it, you missed out on a great start to the day, but we’d love to see you at our next monthly lunch event: April RPRS Lunch Meeting: City of Raleigh—Government Communications.

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2016 RPRS Awards Banquet in Review

We loved getting to celebrate excellence in communications with so many of our Triangle-area peers in the public relations and corporate communications fields last week at our annual awards banquet. Our thanks to Charlotte Agenda (and Raleigh Agenda) Co-Founder and Creative Director Katie Levans for serving as our keynote speaker and guest emcee for the evening, as well!

Many local organizations took home Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Excellence in Communication and one very deserving professional received the Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement.

2016 Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement Winner: Pamela Meek – SAS

Pamela Meek, Senior Director of External Communications at SAS, has come a long way since her first job at Record Bar as a newly minted UNC-Chapel Hill journalism graduate. She began her career in internal communications at Record Bar, a Durham-based music store chain. Except for two years there and a five-month stint at the Duke University News Bureau, she has spent her entire professional life growing and developing the corporate communications program at Cary, N.C.-based SAS, the world’s leading analytics software maker.

In 30 years – 25 of them in leadership roles – she has influenced almost every aspect of SAS’ internal and external communications program. Her fingerprints are on everything from narrative on www.sas.com to the nuances of executive speeches to SAS’ presence on social media. She leads product and workplace culture public relations initiatives that cross company divisions and involve colleagues in other countries. A capable corporate spokesperson herself, she counsels executives to represent SAS in media interviews and speaking engagements at highly visible venues.

She built a world-class team whose accomplishments include producing the entries that won SAS an unbroken streak of 19 appearances on Fortune magazine’s elite list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. At a recent celebration of her three decades at SAS, co-founder and CEO Jim Goodnight lauded her success, describing her and her teams as innovative and crediting them with establishing and expanding SAS’ reputation as analytics leader.

2016 Sir Walter Raleigh Awards for Excellence in Communication Winners

Division 1: Total Campaign
Category 1 – Promotional Campaign
Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangler Honors Greensboro’s Textile History
Clairemont Communications – Briar Chapel Adds Heat to the 8th Annual Pepper Festival
Clairemont Communications – Papa Spuds Delivers Farm Fresh Food to Your Doorstep
Fleishman Hillard – Cree + Abby Wambach
Fleishman Hillard – Baby+Co. Grand Opening

Silver Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Showcasing the Best of the West- Dude Ranch-Style

Gold Winners
French/West/Vaughan – Meet me for Midnight
North Carolina Art Museum – Reaching Millennials at M.C. Escher

Category 2 – Organizational Identity/Promotion
Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan – PSCU Goes Back to the Future

Silver Winners
Clairemont Communications-Unveiling New Digs: II Palio Revamps and Renews
Fleishman Hillard- Sirtex-SIRFLOX Study

Gold Winner
French|West|Vaughan- NC State ISE Rises to No. 2 National Ranking

Category 6 – Miscellaneous Special Events
Honorable Mention
French|West|Vaughan- Riders by Lee Shines New Light on Body Positivity with “Mirror, Mirror” NYC Media Event

Silver Winners
French|West|Vaughan – Feed the Force: Moe’s Exclusive Premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
S&A Communications – Second Annual Triangle Oktoberfest

Gold Winners
Clairemont Communications – Raising the Barn- Wendell Falls Grand Opening
Clairemont Communications – The Lincoln Apartments Ribbon Cutting

Best in Division for Total Campaign:
North Carolina Museum of Art- Reaching Millennials at M.C. Escher

Division 2: Publications
Category 8b – Brochure, Handbook or Guidebook with Three or More Colors
Silver Winner
Largemouth Communications-Eaton: There’s More to Our Story

Category 10b – Magazine with Three or More Colors
Gold Winner
S.T. Wooten Corporation- Beyond the Specs

Best in Division for Publications:
S.T. Wooten Corporation- Beyond the Specs

Division 3: Public Relations Writing
Category 13- Opinion/Feature Writing
Gold Winner
S&A Communications- Smith Anderson Article on Entrepreneur.com

Category 14- News Release
Gold Winner
Clairemont Communications- Growers Reinvent Farming Practice with New Technologies
Best in Division for Public Relations Writing
S&A Communications- Smith Anderson Article on Entreprenuer.com

Division 4: Digital Communications
Category 16 – Website
Silver Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Wrangling Multimedia Content for the Western Lifestyle

Category 17 – Social Media
Gold Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Pendleton Midnight Launch

Category 19- Video and Film
Honorable Mention
Fleishman Hillard – Cree Abby Wambach Tribute Video

Silver Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Pendleton Midnight Launch

Gold Winner
Clairemont Communications- Clairemont Communications Celebrates Six Years with Good to Be Alive Video

Best in Division for Digital Communications
Clairemont Communications – Clairemont Communications Celebrates Six Years with Good to Be Alive Video

Division 5: More Bang for the Buck
Category 21- Special Event/Campaign
Honorable Mention
S&A Communications – Cary Family Dental’s Fourth Annual Dentistry From the Heart Event

Silver Winners
French|West|Vaughan – Carolina Beach Kicks Off Beach Season with Boardwalk Grand Opening
Fleishman Hillard – The St. Baldrick’s Foundation- Childhood Cancer Awareness Month Campaign

Gold Winner
French|West|Vaughan – Golf Driving PTSD Road to Recovery

Best in Division for More Bang for the Buck
French|West|Vaughan – Golf Driving PTSD Road to Recovery

Photos from the Awards Banquet

Our thanks to photographer Guillermo Delgado for providing these great snapshots from our event!

Click here to view all of the images from this event on our Facebook page!

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RPRS Honors Capstrat’s Ken Eudy with the 2015 Watt Huntley Award

RALEIGH, N.C. (Sept. 24, 2015) – Ken Eudy, co-founder and chief executive officer of Capstrat, was honored with the 2015 Watt Huntley Award for Lifetime Achievement in the field of public relations during the Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS) Sir Walter Raleigh Awards banquet on September 23 at The State Club.

Each year, RPRS presents The Watt Huntley Award to an individual who has made lasting and meaningful contributions to the field of public relations over the course of a career. It is given in memory of the late Watt Huntley, who served as public relations chief at Carolina Power & Light in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Huntley also served as president of the Raleigh Public Relations Society, and so the organization’s highest honor bears his name.

“As the communications landscape continues to evolve and change, Ken continues to lead his colleagues and practitioners in the field. We’re pleased to present Ken with the Watt Huntley Award as recognition for his accomplishments and for what he has contributed to the public relations industry,” said Kelly Propst, president, Raleigh Public Relations Society. “We are appreciative of his work to advance the profession and his impact on the Triangle area and PR community.”

The evening also honored the best in communications and public relations campaigns from across the state of North Carolina during the Sir Walter Raleigh awards. Entries were honored in five divisions, with one firm winning the top award in each:

  • Division 1 – Total Communications/Community Relations Campaign: Clairemont Communications – LEKKER Bikes U.S. Rolls into America
  • Division 2 – Publications: Media Partners, Inc. – Pediatric Care, Close to Home
  • Division 3 – Public Relations Writing: Clairemont Communications – LEKKER Bikes U.S. Rolls into America
  • Division 4 – Digital Communications: Clairemont Communications – PDQ Invites Mom Bloggers to Experience Fresh Concept
  • Division 5 – More Bang for the Buck: French/West/Vaughan – A History Lesson Like No Other in a Place Like No Other: The 150th Civil War Anniversary at Fort Fisher

To learn more about the Sir Walter Raleigh Awards and the Watt Huntley Award, as well as the Raleigh Public Relations Society, please visit www.rprs.org.

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About the Raleigh Public Relations Society
For more than 50 years, the Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS) has advanced the art and science of public relations and strengthened communication, understanding and cooperation among diverse individuals, organizations and institutions throughout the Triangle. For more information, visit www.rprs.org.