PRoof Awards 2018 CALL FOR ENTRIES. Entries in the 2018 competition must have been executed in 2017.

Transcription

1 In West Michigan, national-caliber, award-winning programs are bringing deserved accolades to public relations professionals and organizations. The West Michigan chapter of the Public Relations Society of America annually presents the PRoof Awards, which recognize practitioners who successfully used skill, creativity and resourcefulness to address a communication challenge. PRoof Awards 2018 CALL FOR ENTRIES The awards competition is open to public relations, communications and marketing professionals who work in West Michigan. Membership in WMPRSA is not required, however members will receive a discounted rate for submissions. Entries in the 2018 competition must have been executed in Early Bird Deadline: February 23, 2018 Final Deadline: March 2, 2018 Awards Ceremony: May 1, 2018

2 WELCOME MESSAGE On behalf of the board of directors of the Public Relations Society of America West Michigan Chapter, I m honored to announce the call for entries for the 2018 PRoof Awards. We ve made a few updates to the PRoof Award submission process this year, and I wanted to include a personal note outlining the changes. Historically, the PRoof Awards were closely aligned with PRSA s national Silver and Bronze Anvil Awards to allow organizations and PR professionals to easily rework their PRoof submissions for national entry. We took steps this year to realign our categories and tactics with national. Using their template as a starting point, we made a few changes to highlight this year s incredible public relations efforts. There s always been some overlap between PR and marketing. As a foremost Public Relations organization, we chose to narrow a few of the campaign and tactical categories to underscore the importance of public relations, which traditionally focuses on strategic communications, earned media and relational communications. This year, we ve also chosen to change the criteria and number of awards given out. This is based largely on feedback from our members. It also aligns more closely with other national awards programs and our continuous effort to raise the bar of excellence. We will award one gold and one silver winner from each category, as well as a number of honorable mentions. We re also working with our judging chapter partner to improve the judging and scoring process. For example, this year we ve asked that our awards be judged by APR-certified professionals with more than 10 years of experience. Lastly, we've streamlined both the application process and the judging process, moving the award submission to an online form. We hope that this brings consistency to the entries and expedites the process, especially for organizations that submit in multiple categories. We thank you for your dedication and commitment to WMPRSA, and we hope that these changes will allow us to continue to highlight all the incredible public relations work in our community. Amy LeFebre WMPRSA 2018 Chapter President

3 ENTRY GUIDELINES Entries not adhering to the following guidelines may be disqualified. To qualify, work represented in the entry must have been executed in Projects must be completed in West Michigan or on behalf of a West Michigan-based client. This year, we ve also streamlined both the application process and the judging process, moving the awards submission process to an online form. Entry application for Campaigns: Entry application for Tactics: Entry Deadlines: Early Bird: Entries submitted before midnight on Friday, February 23, 2018 Final Deadline: Entries submitted before midnight on Friday, March 2, 2018 Note: after March 2, late submissions will not be accepted. Payment: Per-entry fee by midnight on Friday, February 23, 2018: $50 WMPRSA Member / $75 Nonmember Per-entry fee by midnight on Friday, March 2, 2018: $75 WMPRSA Member / $100 Nonmember Payment Options Check: Make payable to WMPRSA. Mail to: West Michigan PRSA, P.O. Box , Grand Rapids, MI Credit Card: Make payments online:

4 HOW ENTRIES ARE JUDGED A panel of judges from an out-of-state PRSA chapter will examine this year s entries to determine one gold and one silver winner in each category. Judges will also award a number of honorable mentions for entries that reach a minimum point level. Winners will be notified in late April and recognized at the PRoof Awards Ceremony on May 1. Gold award winners are automatically considered for the PRoof Best of Show Award. This recognition will be awarded to the entry that receives the highest score and represents the finest example of public relations programming in If multiple entries earn the highest score, judges will select one winner from the finalists. Judging Criteria Research: Quality of primary and/or secondary research conducted prior to the campaign; inclusion of key findings that aided in preparing campaigns/tactics. Planning: Clearly defined goals, SMART objectives (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific), target audiences and an overview of strategies and tactics. Execution: Applications of strategies, creativity and the effective use of public relations tactics, tools and techniques. Evaluation: Demonstration of how the campaign met objectives and advanced goals as outlined in the Planning section.

5 CAMPAIGN CATEGORIES C1: Community Relations Includes programs that aim to build or improve relations with, or seek to win the support or cooperation of, people or organizations in a geographic area in which the sponsoring organization has an interest, need or opportunity. This includes building relationships with a variety of constituent publics such as residents, schools, charities, associations and activist interests of the neighborhoods or metropolitan area(s) where an organization operates. C2: Corporate Social Responsibility Program that enhances a corporate reputation and demonstrates a business approach to initiatives that positively impact society. Campaigns to highlight the positive impact that they have had delivering economic, social and/or environmental benefits to stakeholders. C3: Crisis Communications Includes programs undertaken to protect and defend an individual, company or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. These challenges can involve legal, ethical or financial standing. C4: Events and Observances Stimulating an interest in a person, product or organization by means of a focused happening. Includes programs or events such as commemorations, fundraisers, observances, openings, yearlong anniversaries, celebrations or other special activities designed to engage the public. C5: Financial Communications A program or initiative designed to build relationships with investor publics including shareholders/stockholders, potential investors, financial analysts, the financial markets (such as the stock exchanges and commodities exchanges), and the Securities and Exchange Commission. C6: Global Communications Includes any type of program, such as Reputation/Brand Management, Integrated Communications or Events and Observances, that demonstrates effective global communications, i.e., must be implemented in more than one country. C7: Integrated Communications Includes any program that demonstrates leadership of public relations strategies and tactics in a creative and effective integrated campaign. An integrated campaign uses a combination of communications disciplines -- including advertising, collateral materials, digital, publicity, direct mail, trade shows and/or events -- to inform, educate, advocate or sell a product, service or idea. The program must demonstrate the clear leadership of public relations, along with its integration with other disciplines. C8: Internal Communications Includes programs targeted specifically to special publics directly allied with an organization, such as employees, board members, affiliated dealers and franchisees. These activities may be designed to build sound relationships between an organization and its internal audiences, cultivate brand ambassadors or to communicate specific information, such as company expansion, restructuring, layoffs or new investments. C9: Issues Management For programs and activities that anticipate, identify, evaluate and strategically respond to emerging issues that are likely to have important consequences for the organization and/or its publics. Issues may include a planned organizational action, public policy, leadership/employee behavior, community concern or other situation that could extraordinarily and negatively affect ongoing business strategy. C10: Most Effective Campaign on a Shoestring Budget ($5,000 OR LESS) Successful campaign, i.e. Events and Observances or Community Relations, despite constraints of a very small budget. This does not include staff time and overhead. C11: Multicultural Public Relations For any type of program, such as Corporate Social Responsibility or Community Relations, targeted to a specific cultural group(s) or cocommunity(s). Special attention will be paid to how the campaign avoided stereotyping and used research to gain insight into target audiences. C12: Public Affairs Includes programs specifically designed to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies at the local, state or federal government levels to build and maintain mutually beneficial governmental and community relations. C13: Public Service Includes programs that advance public understanding of societal issues, problems or concerns in an effort to mobilize the public to take action for the good of the community. C14: Reputation / Brand Management Programs designed to enhance, promote or improve the reputation of an organization or its leadership with its publics or key elements of its publics, either proactively or in response to an issue, event or market occurrence.

6 TACTIC CATEGORIES EARNED SHARED OWNED T1: MEDIA RELATIONS Tactics, programs and events driven entirely by media relations. Attach press releases, media advisories, pitch letters, requests for coverage, etc. as evidence of the resulting media coverage. Link to YouTube/Vimeo examples to any television or radio coverage. T2: FEATURE ARTICLES Feature articles that have been written by a practitioner, and submitted and published through his/her efforts. This does not include feature stories published on the organization/company s owned website, blog or newsroom. Upload text of feature article, as well as documentation of publication and placement. T3: EDITORIAL/OP-ED Opinion articles written as an editorial, guest column or letter to the editor. Upload text or articles and documentation of the publication. T4: MEDIA/PRESS KIT This includes news releases, photographs and other background information compiled for an organization, product or issue. Upload media/press kit when submitting your application. T5: EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS Positioning of an executive at any level across earned, owned, and share platforms. Upload copies of significant placements, social media, posts or memos. T6: SOCIAL MEDIA TACTICS Use of social media as a part of a public relations campaign or program. Upload screen captures or copies of pages to support your entry submission. T7: BEST USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA STORIES Did you take social storytelling to another level? How did you use YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat to tell your brand's story? Share screenshots or links to your story and provide the results. T8: PODCAST Did you use audio to get your your message out? How did you tell your story was the purpose to teach or share? Was it intended for internal or external audiences and was there engagement on multiple platforms? Provide listener feedback and links to your podcasts. T9: WEBSITE Use of a website as part of a communications or content marketing program. Upload screen grabs or copies of key pages as well as the website URL for external sites. T10: NEW DIGITAL PROGRAM Did you launch a new website, newsroom, app or other digital platform? How was it launched and how much risk was involved in your marketing plan? What platforms were used? What value did the end user receive and how did it match goals? This entry can be completed by a vendor or the customer. T11: CREATIVE TACTICS Innovative, unconventional, creative tactics or approaches used as part of a public relations program. Include documentation of how the tactic specifically contributed to the campaign s measurable results and upload photo/video representation of physical objects. T12: ANNUAL REPORTS Publications that report on an organization s annual performance. Upload a sample copy of the publication with your entry submission. T13: BLOGS Web-based journals, or blogs, that communicated to a target audience. Your entry submission should include rationale for blogging strategy, target audiences and statistics, or other means of quantifiable measurement to support stated objectives. Screen captures of the blog, as well as the actual site URL, must be submitted with your entry submission. T14: DIGITAL PUBLICATIONS (Periodicals) Publications designed, written and published periodically to provide brief and timely information to target audiences while supporting an organization s overall objectives. Upload samples of three consecutive issues with your entry submission. T15: SINGLE ISSUE PUBLICATIONS (Digital or Print) Single-issue publications designed for a special purpose. Books and other publications not eligible for consideration in other categories should be entered here. Upload a sample of one copy of the publication with your entry submission. T16: ONLINE NEWSROOM Also known as a pressroom, media room, press center or media center is a website, web page or site section that contains distributable information about a corporation or organization. Screen captures of the newsroom, as well as the actual site URL, must be submitted with your entry submission. T17: ONLINE VIDEOS Pre-produced videos distributed online to inform target audiences of an event, product, service, issue or organization. Entries may consist of an edited video and one of any sound bites. Your entry submission should include usage statistics or other means of quantified measurement to support stated objectives. Link to the video in your entry submission. T18: MAGAZINES (Print) Print publications designed to provide in-depth information about an organization or topic on a regular basis. Magazines typically differentiate from newsletters by the number of pages and length of articles. Upload samples of three consecutive issues along with your entry submission.