Join Us Jan. 26 for the 2017 PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards

By Jordan Mitrik

PRSA Pittsburgh’s annual Renaissance Awards ceremony is one of my favorite events of the year. For one evening, the city’s top communication professionals gather to celebrate the most outstanding public relations and marketing work produced that year. They take a break from their busy schedules to honor campaigns, tactics and individual practitioners in the area that are changing the way we communicate and that are contributing to Pittsburgh’s identity as a hub for innovation.

The 2017 Renaissance Awards will be my first ceremony as a professional in the industry. I’ve actually attended the event for the past four years, but that story is for a different blog post. Each year, I become more impressed with the city’s communicators and the work they produce. I have left every ceremony excited for my future in public relations and inspired by the efforts made by the industry’s professionals.

This year’s ceremony has been revamped to bring us more in line with the awards criteria of other communications organizations as well as PRSA National. By adding new categories that reflect our evolving industry landscape, we’ve brought a more contemporary feel to the awards program and are looking forward to celebrating with you.

Please join us Thursday, Jan. 26, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel, Station Square for a night of networking and fun as we recognize the accomplishments of our city’s brightest communicators.

Check-in registration and a cocktail hour will begin at 5:30 p.m., opening remarks begin at 6:45, and dinner and awards will begin at 7.

Opening and narrating our evening as the event emcee is Karamagi Rujumba, director of public communications & advocacy at the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation.

We are excited to also host a Networking Party after the ceremony concludes at Buckhead Saloon in Station Square. We have a reserved VIP area with access to a discounted cash bar from 10 p.m. to midnight.

Interested in learning more? Take a look at the 2016 awards ceremony video recap below to hear what other members of the Pittsburgh community have to say about our Renaissance Awards.

Register Today!


Jordan Mitrik currently works at Brunner, a top U.S. full-service Marketing/Advertising agency in Pittsburgh. He also serves as blog coordinator for PRSA Pittsburgh. Connect with Jordan: Twitter | LinkedIn | Website 

Q4 Highlights: PD Day, mentorship program and planning for 2017 

What a year it’s been. Before we turn the page to a new year, let’s take a look at some of the Chapter’s highlights from the last three months:

  • Distributed two e-newsletters, highlighting recent Chapter member accomplishments, programming announcements and tips to improving communication skills. To view the latest Chapter e-newsletter, click here.
  • Chapter President Steve Radick attended the PRSA 2016 International Conference in Indianapolis. He gave a presentation on “Building Value That Has Value Beyond Likes, Comments, and Clicks” as well as represented the Chapter at the annual Leadership Assembly. To learn more about the conference and what advances are being made within PRSA, click here
  • Hosted the Chapter’s annual Professional Development Day on Oct. 27 at The Rivers Club. This year’s PD Day focused on how communications professionals are using traditional and innovative tactics to reach their audiences. Read about what our keynote panel speakers shared here
  • Joined forces with the Waynesburg University PRSSA Chapter to initiate a student-professional mentor program. To date, we have 10 committed professionals acting as mentors to 10 PRSSA students from Waynesburg University. We’re looking forward to see how both parties will benefit from this partnership. 
  • Hosted our annual Holiday Party at Roland’s Seafood Grill & Iron Landing. Members of PRSA Pittsburgh came together to celebrate a successful 2016 and enjoyed appetizers and drinks to close out the year. 

Happy 2017 from PRSA Pittsburgh! We look forward to another great year with our outstanding members. 

If you have any suggestions for our Board, email us as info@prsa-pgh or find the Board Chairperson you wish to reach here.

Visit our blog for future updates and discussions on the latest industry trends!

6 Brand Storytelling and Marketing Lessons I Learned From The Moth

[ This article originally appeared on The Way, Sprinklr’s content hub. As one of PRSA Pittsburgh’s sponsors, each month Sprinklr will be delivering you with some insights into how you can use technology to make your marketing more efficient and effective. ]

Marketers are storytellers. If you don’t believe me, check LinkedIn. Brand Storyteller, Chief Storyteller, Data Storyteller – these are actual titles that people have. Is “storyteller” just an exaggerated buzzword used to aggrandize modern professionals? It does sound more stimulating than Marketing Director, I suppose, but there’s more to it than that.

I should know. I am a Storyteller.

No, seriously, I tell stories at events produced by The Moth and participate in a variety of other storytelling shows around New York City. These short stories are true tales from my own life told in front of live audiences. Some are a little funnier, some are little sadder, each is a little bit different.

Regardless, every time I tell a story, I learn more about what works and what doesn’t, what phrases seem to flow and which I stumble over, and most importantly, how to communicate my ideas efficiently and effectively.

I’ve sharpened the same skills over the past 12+ years as a marketer in the areas of merchandising, email marketing, and social media strategy. At Sprinklr, I help marketers across industries create valuable experiences for a world transformed by social media.

With that in mind, I want to share what I’ve learned on the storytelling stage that helps me in the marketing meeting.

Keep it Short, Sweetheart.

There’s a five-minute limit at Moth open mic StorySlams, so I need to keep my story tight. The more time I have to prepare, the more concise my story becomes. I eliminate repetitive phrases that don’t enhance a theme, and remove details that don’t support my primary or secondary message.

I don’t try to cover my entire freshman year of college, or even the first semester, or even that party I went to that one night. I describe the moment I spilled a drink on the girl I had a crush on at this party I went to during the first semester of my freshman year in college. Just that moment.

A marketer’s message must be just as simple, and accomplishing this requires the same steps: be prepared and eliminate repetitive or distracting details that don’t enhance your primary message. Don’t try to “boil the ocean” with your calls to action, and instead focus on what you want your customer to do right now.

Have a Beginning, Middle, End…and a Point.

Without a logical narrative structure, you don’t have a story. You have a bunch of words vaguely coalescing to form an anecdote. You need the sense of “I was there, and then this happened and now I’m here…and that’s important because…”

With marketing messages, the beginning is the “current state” – the not-quite-good-enough situation that your audience is in. Storytellers must then establish the “ideal state” – where your audience could be, where things are better. This is our goal: the Emerald City at the end of the yellow brick road.

Then comes the journey – how we’re going to get there; the transition from our sepia-toned today, to a technicolor tomorrow.

This structure holds when marketers describe the improvements they saw when testing a new approach, or when they’re explaining to an internal audience how they’ve accomplished certain goals. They must cover the full journey from point A to point B.

Know Your Theme.

Every open mic StorySlam at The Moth has a theme that all stories must follow. Within this restriction lies opportunity. With a required theme, I must examine my story from a variety of angles and determine the best path to take, and hopefully find a way to reflect the theme in a unique and surprising way.

What is the theme of your marketing message? Of today’s social media content or next week’s email newsletter? How does that tie to the larger themes of your current campaigns, and your broad company goals?

You’re only fenced in if you look straight ahead. Look up! The sky’s the limit even if you are restricted to a small piece of earth.

Know Your Audience.

I don’t tell the same story in the backroom of a bar that I might tell on the stage of a nice theater. I surely won’t tell it the same way, or highlight the same parts. The pace may change, my tone of voice might shift.

Omni-channel marketers need to reach audiences where they are, in their preferred voice. Copy for a Facebook post is going to be different than a banner ad or a billboard.

If I talk to my audience flipping through a magazine as if they were scrolling through a Twitter feed, I’m likely missing them. Consumers are wary of marketing messages to begin with, so it’s crucial to present your story in the smartest possible way.

Know Yourself.

When I approach my storytelling, I try to stay aware of the types of stories I’m comfortable telling, how I perform in different sorts of venues and situations, and whether or not I’ll be comfortable improvising on the spot depending on how the audience is responding to me.

The truth is, you might not know what will work until you are performing. Maybe a line that you thought would get a lot of laughs falls flat, or perhaps a line that you improvised brings the house down.

In a marketing campaign, if you see that something isn’t working, you need to quickly make the necessary change. And if something lands with much more success than you anticipated, then it’s time to shift your approach and follow the momentum.

Find the Human, Find the Human, Find the Human.

Every time I get up to tell a story, the audience is full of human beings. No monsters, no supervillains, no zombies. People who want to feel something, not just be told something. They want to relate to me and hear something unique at the same time. Some of them probably had a bad day. Some of them won’t like my story. Ya know, human being stuff.

I love storytelling as a performance, but since I’m also a human being, I won’t nail it every time. I’ve always got something to learn. A phrase can be tweaked, a sentence polished, but eventually the words need to exit my mouth and enter the hearts and minds of those listening.

At that point, it’s not my story any more. It belongs to all of us.

To you, the reader of these words, I don’t know your business or what your customers need from you, but I can almost guarantee your customers are human beings too. Give them something worth hearing, ideally something worth feeling.

You won’t make it perfect every time, but that’s what testing is for, right? Tell your story, measure your results, be honest about what worked and what didn’t. Forgive yourself when you flop, and then get yourself a fresh sheet of paper, Word doc or PowerPoint deck and start again. Once upon a time. Anything can happen after that.


 

The author, Joe Charnitski, is the Director of Marketing Solutions at Sprinklr.

Renaissance Awards: Deadline EXTENDED, Categories Explained

 We know there are still many of you working hard to get Renaissance Award submissions completed, and definitely don’t want you to miss out.

Therefore, we are extending the deadline to 5 PM next Thursday, December 15.

Hosting the annual Renaissance Awards has been a long-standing tradition within PRSA Pittsburgh. Once a year, the brightest and most talented Pittsburgh communications professionals come together under one roof to honor the most innovative work of the year. It’s a night to celebrate, enjoy delicious food and, of course, network.

We are all well aware that our industry is constantly evolving. New trends are forcing professionals to adapt to change, and it’s how we respond to change that determines if we remain competitive.

As our public relations work shifts and adapts from year to year, so should our Renaissance Awards. For the 2017 ceremony, we have updated our award categories and judging criteria to bring us more in line with the awards criteria of other communications organizations as well as National PRSA. These updates will also allow you to better explain the work that you do and get the appropriate credit for your successes.

If you’re familiar with our awards program, you’ll notice that many former Campaign categories have now been streamlined to reflect the integration and convergence that’s occurring in the market today. No longer does PR exist in a silo. We are becoming more strategic and more integrated into the overall organization’s business and communications plans. Likewise, our tactics categories encompass a broader set of writing and multimedia skills that we all bring to bear every day. Between the new entry forms and the award category descriptions, we’ve tried to bring more of a contemporary feel to our awards program and give all of our members a stronger footing to compete for national awards.

In each of the categories, you’ll notice a few bullets. Note that you do NOT have to choose ONE of these bullets in your submission. These are provided as examples of the types of work that would be submitted in that category. For example, Media relations campaigns may encompass one or more of the following:

a) Local / regional media

b) Trade media

c) National media

If your award-worthy campaign only meets one of these levels, please submit! If your media relations work covers all three levels, also submit! Entries are judged based on research, planning, implementation and evaluation; therefore, the most innovative and effective submission, regardless of which level(s) you meet, will ultimately win the award.

The Tactic award categories have also seen some changes. We have combined old award categories and included new ones to better fit the type of work you have been implementing throughout the course of the year. Our revamped Tactics award categories include:

  •  Written Content
  •  Multimedia Content
  •  Promotional Content
  •  Measurement and Reporting
  •  Annual Report

Within the Tactic categories, we have also included some examples of the types of entries we are looking for.

Refer to our updated list to help you determine what category your entry belongs in.

If you have any questions, please contact our Awards Committee at renaissance@prsa-pgh.org or email our President directly, sradick@brunnerworks.com.

ENTER NOW

We look forward to seeing you at the show on January 26!

PRSSA Post: 3 Tips on How to Stand Out in the World of Public Relations

 By Carlee Smith

I was fortunate enough to attend the PRSSA National Conference in Indianapolis, Ind., from Oct. 21 through Oct. 25. The experience that I gained from this conference is unexplainable, and I will carry what I learned with me for years to come.

It’s no surprise that public relations is a growing field. There are many aspiring public relations professionals who are seeking out jobs in every industry imaginable. So, with all of this competition, one might find oneself asking “how do I stand out?” or “how do I make myself different from everyone else?” Here are three tips on how to stand out in the world of public relations.

1. Follow the VTOM Model for Leadership. 

VTOM is an acronym that stands for Visualizer, Translator, Organizer and Motivator. Although this acronym is geared towards leaders, any public relations professional should keep this acronym in mind and use it to improve themselves both professionally and personally.

Visualizer: Professionals must have goals, objectives and a direction to go in. They must have an idea of what they want a company to look like in order to be active and help make positive changes for the organization.

Translator: Public relations leaders and professionals need to be able to listen to and understand other members of their team or coworkers in their organization.

Organizer: Exceptional communicators must be able to break down visions and ideas into organizations and groups of people to fit their goals. It is important to be able to separate ideas and visions and assign them to people whose goals fit them.

Motivator: Leaders need to understand the levers that will encourage members of an organization or workers in a company to take on and sustain tasks.

2. Understand that communicating is not the only primary function of a public relations professional.

The real skill of a public relations professional is to engage and solve real business problems. With that said, diversity and open-mindedness are key skills. Be an active reader, a good listener and have a thick skin. Having the ability to integrate and having great persuasive writing skills are also key.

3. Be authentic.

David Grossman, co-founder of The Grossman Group, said it best at his conference session: “authentic leaders get better results and have healthier lives.”


 

Carlee Smith is a junior communication major with a double track in public relations and digital media production at Slippery Rock University. She is involved in the university’s student-run PR firm and PRSSA Chapter, Rock PRoductions. She currently serves as the organization’s senior social media specialist and is in charge of reviewing social media posts before distribution to clients. You can connect with Carlee on LinkedIn or send her an email at cas1040@sru.edu.  

Why Brands That Are Direct Are Powerful

By Meredith Klein

[ This article originally appeared on MediaPost, an integrated publishing and content company whose mission is to provide a complete array of resources for media, marketing and advertising professionals. ]

I recently returned from my honeymoon to France, Italy and Great Britain. In several of the cities we visited, I noticed United Colors of Benetton had “clothes for humans” splashed across their windows. The message was inclusive and inviting, a welcome change at a time when we are seemingly becoming more and more divided. With three simple words — “clothes for humans” — United Colors of Benetton stood out for its directness.

The campaign, which launched mid-summer, was uniquely intentional. Its straightforward messaging strategy resonated with me because I was in Europe just as the tumultuous U.S. presidential election ended. The months of divisive commentary, from all sides, was draining and this powerful message restored some of my faith in the world. I couldn’t help but think “clothes for humans” was a perfect summation of what consumers are looking for — positivity, sincerity. And that got me thinking; what made this campaign so exceptional and powerful?

  • It’s grounded in integrity Don’t believe me? Check out what Benetton’s agency 180 Amsterdam is calling their “manifesto” and tell me you don’t get choked up watching. It’s refreshing to see a brand take a stand for what it believes rather than producing a campaign that’s aligned with marketing best practices but devoid of much else.
  • It’s inclusive “Clothes for humans” is a great example of a brand consciously choosing everyone instead of just their target audience. Not many can appeal to the masses and do it well; Benetton did.
  • It’s genuine Watch the ad spots, seriously. You always hear about brands injecting themselves into the customer journey. United Colors of Benetton realized they didn’t have to do this — their clothes were already part of it.
  • It’s integrated I’m not just talking traditional messaging channels. Benetton is taking a leap into the content and publishing movement with the introduction of what The Drum described as the “‘magalogue,’ a publication that will contain 50% product and 50% quality content.” It’s a bold move.

Not every brand can do what United Colors of Benetton has done, I get that. But I hope other brands will be inspired by their directness to yield more powerful work. Benetton has always forged their own path, carved their own destiny and with “clothes for humans” may very well cultivate the future of retail.


Meredith Klein is vice president of PRSA Pittsburgh and public relations account supervisor at BRUNNER.

Mentorship Program: 5 Reasons You Can Benefit

 

By Amanda Troncone

When I first ran for the position of professional development coordinator within the Waynesburg University Public Relations Student Society of America Chapter, I knew that a mentor program was a must. The Chapter has been involved in a multitude of experiences that allows students to meet and interact with professionals, but those relationships are not always maintained after the initial contact. Students need the opportunity to cultivate and continue relationships with professionals in the public relations field because relationships provide an opportunity to learn. Students are less likely to learn about the industry from a series of handshakes and a four-minute conversation, and are more likely to learn more from one professional who takes the time to teach them over a long period of time. When I was elected to this position, building a mentor program was the first item on my agenda.

Waynesburg University and PRSA Pittsburgh is working together to create a mentor program. The Chapter is extremely grateful to be collaborating with such reputable professionals. The kickoff event will be held before the PRSA Pittsburgh annual Christmas party Monday, Dec. 12. The event will run from 5 to 6 p.m., followed by the annual PRSA Pittsburgh Christmas Party.

Since the kickoff event is nearing soon, below is a list of reasons why being a mentee can truly benefit the future of public relations.

1. Mentors offer a new perspective 

Having a mentor will allow students to see another point-of-view. A mentor provides knowledge and experience that students do not have. Simply having the ability to bounce ideas off of someone and receive input on projects, client work and personal branding endeavors will allow students to expand critical thinking and industry skills. 

2. Students will be able to learn about the industry and sector from their mentors

Sometimes students think they want to enter into a sector professionally, but may not have a complete understanding of what that entails. By having a mentor, students are able to ask questions and explore what that sector and job demands.  

3. Students will be exposed to more professional contacts

Relationships are like currency in the field of public relations, and mentors allow students to expand their professional networks by introducing them to new contacts and other professionals. Students can offer other professional contacts for their mentors to utilize as well. 

4. A mentor will help expose talents and weaknesses

Students are still learning the necessary skills needed to succeed in the field of public relations, and a mentor will only supplement that learning by offering advice. Students want mentors who will help identify talents and weaknesses, so they can continue to become better professionals. Students will always be grateful for any lesson taught by their mentors, and by gaining this knowledge about themselves, they can learn to be better and proactive mentees. 

5. Mentors will teach students how to be mentors themselves 

Mentors not only teach mentees viable skills to succeed, but mentors help teach mentees how to be good mentors to other people. The most important aspect in this program is that students will be able to take this experience to help others in the future. By having a mentor, a future mentor is being crafted.   

If anyone is interested in becoming a mentor or have any questions, please contact Meredith Amoroso at meredithblakepr@gmail.com.


Amanda Troncone is a sophomore public relations student and serves as the professional development coordinator for Waynesburg University Public Relations Student Society of America. Follow Amanda on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

2016 PRSA Membership Extended Black Friday Deal

You don’t have to wait until 2017 to start the next chapter in your career. Join PRSA now to start connecting with your peers and take advantage of professional development opportunities before this year even comes to an end!

Become a member by Dec. 5 and receive a complimentary Chapter membership*, Section membership* and waived initiation fee. Use the promo code BFTP16 and join for only $255 (a savings of $225). 

Become a PRSA Member now!   

When you join PRSA, you will receive these great benefits:

  • 24/7 access to our new online community, MyPRSA.
  • Access to a wealth of training programs and free webinars.
  • Member discount programs
  • New PRSA Membership App that makes taking advantage of your member benefits easy.
  • Tools designed to help advance your career development.
  • Access to the PRSA Jobcenter.
  • Opportunity to network with more than 21,000 communication and public relations professionals.

*Certain restrictions apply.

How Top Law Firms Make the Best of Social Media Channels

 

[ This article originally appeared on The Way, Sprinklr’s content hub. As one of PRSA Pittsburgh’s sponsors, each month Sprinklr will be delivering you with some insights into how you can use technology to make your marketing more efficient and effective. ]

The growing popularity of social media has ushered in an exciting new era for law firms. By leveraging their most valuable resource—their intellectual assets—across social and digital channels, leading U.S. law firms are uncovering new opportunities for thought leadership, business development, and recruitment.

Good2bSocial, a leading marketing agency, has compiled its third annual Social Law Firm Index, which analyzes the social media strategies of the top 100 law firms in the country. The index measures social media marketing performance, reach, and engagement across different platforms, with a keen eye on how law firms use digital tools to communicate and amplify thought leadership.

Below is an excerpt from the Index report, which provides vital insight into how top performers leverage the most popular social media platforms.

Every Platform has its Purpose

Social Media marketers have discovered over time that specific platforms are optimized for different functions, and certain media channels are more effective at reaching prospects than others. The best firms on The Social Law Firm Indexes have broken the code to how each of these different platforms contributes to accomplishing specific aspects of a diverse outbound communications strategy, and how to harness each to drive inbound traffic and grow business.

Twitter

Twitter has become a very popular platform for law firms and attorneys to cultivate credible relationships and dramatically extend their business networks. The immediacy of the platform, combined with the ease with which outbound comments and curated news can be retweeted and generate organic comments, makes Twitter a top performer for extending reach and engaging with followers. The best performers demonstrate a comprehensive regular communications routine in which Twitter is an essential element.

Successful Twitter campaigns contribute considerably to the online traffic a law firm website receives; the best campaigns have proven more effective in drawing visits than any advertising, pay-per click or search strategy. Among the law firms most effective on Twitter, multiple lawyers at each firm actively tweet under their own handles or under a practice-area handle, meticulously cultivating and enhancing their own Thought Leadership image while simultaneously shedding luster on the firm’s overall brand.

Perhaps the most important reason for Twitter’s outsized impact: bloggers, reporters and the press rely on this medium for timely content and guidance as they research and compose their own articles and advance their own credibility in the field. Lawyers effective on Twitter typically generate more “ink” for their firms in the form of quotes, mentions or full stories appearing across other digital and nondigital media. In this way the firm and its contributing attorneys become influencers to a potentially much larger audience, further enhancing the reach of their social media output.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the hands-down winner for professional marketing, primarily to communicate the firm’s brand and reputation, and also to recruit. The best performers have discovered that LinkedIn allows firms to create showcase pages for specific practices and host their own LinkedIn groups organized around specific topics or matters. The top firms might chair several diverse groups representing specific practice areas and all designed around the common objective of communicating the firm’s Thought Leadership.

Facebook

For the Law Firms in our study, Facebook has evolved to serve employees and the community. Though these are obviously essential elements for any organization, the Social Law Firms have recognized that their most productive business development may not be coming from this channel. Thus although the branding, look and feel fall within marketing’s control, Facebook has become the realm of HR and community relations. It has proven itself a very effective platform for revealing the culture inside a firm and creatively communicating the ambitions and expectations of firm recruiters. This highly visual network is used by savvy firms to convey what it is like to work there, and also to demonstrate their associations with and commitment to local causes and charitable organizations.

Google+

Google+ has, not surprisingly, seen very low adoption rates among the AmLaw 100 through 2016 despite having very effective social networking capabilities akin to LinkedIn – or perhaps because of that. This platform has seen a wider adoption in European and Asian markets; those few firms in our study that did possess and actively cultivate a larger Google+ following were those firms with a considerable business presence in one or more of these geographies. Yet what appears a reasonable resource allocation decision to the majority of firms is actually a misstep.

An important aspect of being discovered online involves being found by search engines like Google and Bing. The practice of improving the odds of being found online—Search Engine Optimization (SEO)—is a rather standard exercise for most marketing departments, who assume it is only about aligning the correct search terms and keywords with a website and its content. But the science of SEO goes much further and deeper. The Google search engine in particular ranks a firm’s website in part by its association with an affiliated Google+ presence. No Google+ presence means a firm may not appear on the first page of results regardless of keywords.

A law firm avoids Google+ at its own peril: competitors’ websites and content will appear first in Google searches, and they will get the first crack at converting prospects to clients.

Learn More at the Upcoming Webinar

From best practices to lessons learned, the webinar will cover the following topics:

  • The strategies top firms are embracing for social media and content marketing success
  • How leading firms uncover great stories and best-in-class content
  • Best practices for scaling your firm’s efforts across multiple offices, regions and markets
  • Measuring success and return on investment from your firm’s social and digital programs
  • The top untapped areas of opportunity for law firms across social and digital channels

The Social Law Firm Index 2016 is the only study of its kind that takes a comprehensive look at the top 100 law firms in America and analyzes each firm’s adoption and use of best practices in social media marketing and thought leadership content.

Panelists:
law firm social media
law firm social media


 

The author, Jessica Gioglio, is the Head of Content Lab at Sprinklr and co-author of, “The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand.” Based in London, Jessica is a featured speaker at social media and tech conferences and was recently recognized as one of the UK’s rising stars in Media & Journalism by We Are The City.

PRSA Pittsburgh Announces 2017 Renaissance Awards

Pittsburgh, PA (November 18, 2016) – The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Pittsburgh chapter, announced its annual Renaissance Awards will be held on Thursday, January 26, 2017, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel in the Grand Station Ballroom.

Traditionally held at venues in downtown Pittsburgh, the 2017 PRSA Pittsburgh Renaissance Awards are moving to Station Square to accommodate its growing list of attendees. This keystone event draws approximately 200 professionals from the Greater Pittsburgh area.

Each year, the Renaissance Awards honor local organizations, agencies, businesses, and communicators for their innovative work across all aspects of public relations and marketing communications. With focus on recognizing the best work – and industry leadership – the Renaissance Awards bolster camaraderie with practitioners as part of a night of celebration.

“The Pittsburgh PR community is really tightknit – we often go from competitors to colleagues and back again. The Renaissance Awards offers us a unique opportunity to celebrate each other’s successes and simultaneously meet our next collaborators too,” said PRSA Pittsburgh President Steve Radick.  “It’s these connections that are created and built upon at events like the Renaissance Awards that make our PR community one of the strongest in the country.”

As part of PRSA Pittsburgh’s commitment to its members and local practitioners, the chapter has also updated its award entries for 2017. With emphasis on digital and social communications, entrants can now select from 13 campaign categories, seven tactical categories and eight individual awards.

PRSA Pittsburgh began accepting award submissions Friday, Nov. 11, at 8 a.m. with an early bird deadline of Nov. 25, by 5 p.m. All entries after that must be received no later than Dec. 5, at 5 p.m.

On the evening of the awards, PRSA Pittsburgh will host senior practitioners at a pre-cocktail hour beginning at 4:30 p.m., followed by a cocktail hour for all members and non-members at 5:30 p.m. The award ceremony and dinner will officially begin at 7 p.m.

For more information about PRSA Pittsburgh and the 2017 Renaissance Awards, please visit www.prsa-pgh.org

Watch a recap of the awards last year on our Youtube channel, PRSA Pittsburgh. Also, see photos from the ceremony, here.

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