Congratulations to all of the 2022 Renaissance Awards winners!

We want to thank all attendees, sponsors, partners, awardees and our Renaissance Awards co-chairs for planning the event, as well as Lanny Frattare, former Pittsburgh Pirates play-by-play announcer and current Assistant Professor of Communication at Waynesburg University, who emceed the annual ceremony on Jan. 27 at Point View Hall inside the Carnegie Science Center.

This year, the awards represent more than 30 different communication campaigns and tactics created in 2021 from some of the most recognizable brands such as Duquesne Light Company, Allegheny Health Network, 84 Lumber and Highmark.

In addition to honoring creative work, PRSA Pittsburgh awarded its annual Black Excellence Award, sponsored by Red Havas. The $2,000 scholarship, given this year to Anton D. Jonson, II, honors one Black young professional working in the region’s communications field.

Red Havas took home Best in Show for their Elevating Expertise at Transitions the Studio campaign.

Complete list of 2022 award recipients:

Individual Awards

  • Hall of Fame — Lesley Sillaman, Red Havas
  • Communicator of the Year — Rachel Hopkins, Burson Cohn & Wolfe
  • Rising Star — Jacob Gnieski, Red Havas
  • Black Excellence Award — Anton D. Johnson, II, Oyster Creative Co.
  • PR Team of the Year — Allegheny Health Network
  • PRSSA Chapter of the Year — Waynesburg University
  • PRSA Member of the Year — Taylor Fife, Red Havas
  • Bob O’Gara Student Scholarship — Braylyn Bruno, Duquesne University

Campaign Awards

Media Relations

Renaissance Awards:

  • Brunner, Reliance Worldwide Corporation (RWC) Trade Media Relations
  • Highmark Inc., Highmark Educates, Activates Community to Fight the Opioid Epidemic
  • Highmark Health/Allegheny Health Network Communications and Media Relations team, Highmark Health/AHN COVID Vaccine Media Relations Campaign

Award of Merit:

  • Brunner, Rinnai Trade Media Relations
  • Allegheny Health Network, AHN’s Donate Life Month
  • BLD Marketing, Inc., SAF Media Relations Campaign
  • BLD Marketing, Inc., 84 Lumber Recruitment Campaign

Integrated Marketing Campaign

Renaissance Awards:

  • Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Oyster Creative Co. & Applebox Studios, Restart the Arts Campaign
  • Brunner, The Home Depot Rental 2022 Integrated Marketing Campaign
  • Allegheny Health Network, Turning Nurse Heroes into Marvel Superheroes

Awards of Merit:

  • Oyster Creative Co., Annual Fund 2020-2021
  • SAE International, Meet SAE
  • Brunner, Rinnai Integrated Marketing Campaign

Influencer Relations

Renaissance Awards:

  • The Motherhood, Molly of Denali
  • The Motherhood, Tomorrow

Digital Campaign

Renaissance Awards

  • Comma Girl Communications, National Truck Protection Co. Inc. 2021 Digital Campaign
  • Beyond Spots & Dots, The Greystone Digital Marketing Campaign
  • BAM Advertising & Marketing, Website Redesign & Rebuild for Allegheny Millwork & Lumber

Multimedia Content

Renaissance Award:

  • Highmark Health/Allegheny Health Network, Highmark Health/AHN COVID Video Highlight Reel

B2B Campaign

Renaissance Awards:

  • Red Havas, MilliporeSigma Accelerates Scale Up of Lipids to Meet COVID-19 Demand

Social Media Campaign

Renaissance Award:

  • Allegheny Health Network, COVID-19 Vaccination Drive
  • Responsival, Milestone Custom Homes Social Media Campaign

Award of Merit:

  • Tiffany Royalty, Allegheny Health Network, AHN’s Donate Life Month

Events

Renaissance Award:

  • Duquesne Light, Duquesne Light All-Employee Meeting
  • Red Havas, Elevating Expertise at Transitions the Studio (Best in Show)

Award of Merit:

  • Pipitone Group, Eat’n Park and Turner’s Dairy Introduce Smiley Cookie Milk
  • Kerry Ford Public Relations, McDonald’s Celebrates Ruthie’s 100th Birthday

Promotional Content

Renaissance Award:

  • Responsival, MODI Toys Social Advertising – “Bring Home the Magic”

Annual Report
Renaissance Award:

  • Duquesne Light, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Report: Building a New Table Together

Written Content

Renaissance Award:

  • Highmark Health/Allegheny Health Network, AHN Executive Visibility Campaign

Award of Merit:

  • Allegheny Health Network Public Relations Team, COVID-19 Vaccination Drive
  • Oyster Creative Co., InfoSec Nirvana White Paper

Awards of Merit

Reputation Management

  • Highmark, CATE COVID-19 Mobile Unit
  • Piptone Group, Kaufmann’s Grand

Student Campaign

  • Waynesburg University, Give Me Five Membership Drive
  • Point Park University, The Heart Project

Internal Communications

  • Mindful Kreative, Inc., eFinancial/Fidelity Life “We’re All In” Company Values Campaign

About the PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards:

Each year, the Renaissance Awards honor local organizations, agencies and businesses as well as communicators for their innovative work across all aspects of public relations and marketing communications. Recent years and unprecedented global events have required communications professionals to be at their best. That’s why we want to highlight all of the hard work and creativity you and your teams spent countless hours working on.

We’re call on all PR pros, marketing experts and creative comms whizzes in the Pittsburgh area to submit their most innovative projects/programs for our annual Renaissance Awards.

The Renaissance Awards are open to anyone—from agencies to non-profits, as well as non-PRSA members.

Stay tuned for how to submit your work for the 2023 awards!

Questions?

If you have any questions about the event, please email event co-chairs Nicole Tobias and Kayla Snyder at renaissance@prsa-pgh.org.