Roc Rocks!

Rochester is home to considerable communications talent. On the heels of yet another successful Addy Award ceremony, the Public Relations Society of America Rochester Chapter celebrated the 20th year of its annual PRism Awards program. The event was held on June 11 at Casa Larga Vineyards.

The PRisms acknowledge the highest standards of performance in public relations. This year’s theme—“Who Says PR Is Easy?”—speaks to the process of making our clients look good while we make it look easy.

Categories are included for web and print materials, direct mail, brochures, and press kits, among others. Both corporate and not-for-profit sectors are recognized in each category. For the very first time, the PRSA Rochester Chapter extended the awards to include social media categories. (With full disclosure on shameless self-promotion, Martino Flynn was honored for its innovative work in two of these non-traditional categories, including “blog” and “blogger relations”). This year’s Best of Show for the Corporate category went to Text 100 for their B2B campaign, “Xerox Takes the Headache Out of Office Printing.”

Individual PR professionals from the area are also recognized, like the CEO of The Year. The Rising Star award is rewarded to someone who demonstrates exceptional competence, skill, and leadership, and has no more than seven years of experience. The Sharleen M. Bruse award goes to a PRSA member with more than 10 years of experience who epitomizes the integrity and professionalism of a public relations practitioner. This recipient is also very involved in community service and routinely help advance the career development of other chapter members.

So congrats to all the 2009 PRism winners. As well, a BIG thanks to everyone in the profession for their contributions that are fostering growth in the field and taking us to new heights.