Queen City Public Relations Awards
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The Queen City Public Relations Awards (QCPR) are the PRSA Charlotte Chapter's signature recognition event, honoring public relations and communication professionals across the area for successfully researching, planning, implementing and evaluating communication campaigns with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness.
There are three "types" of awards: Crown, Excellence and Individual.
CROWN AND EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Click here for the 2019 QCPR Awards Entry Category Information
Click here to submit your Crown Award entry.
Creativity and implementation deserve recognition. That's the goal of the Crown Awards. Entries are judged by another PRSA chapter and winners are chosen based on their research, planning, implementation and evaluation. This year, the Tampa Bay PRSA chapter will judge our chapter's awards. You do not have to be a PRSA member to submit an entry.
Those who receive first place win the Crown Award, while the second-place winner receives the Excellence Award.
We recognize that PR practitioners work in very different industries, so we have three different submission categories to recognize those industries:
- Business Products/Services
- Government/Associations/Nonprofit Organizations
- Solo Practitioner
Within those three industries, the QCPR Crown Awards honor strategic PR campaigns in nine categories:
- Integrated Communications
- Community Relations
- Crisis Communications
- Organizational Relations/Internal Communications
- Shoestring Budget Campaign
- Video
- Digital/Social Media
- Brand Journalism
With three categories and nine awards within each, that means a total of 27 Crown Awards could be presented each year!
Student-Run Campaign
This year, we will also honor one student-run public relations campaign that demonstrates outstanding skill, creativity and resourcefulness. Entrants can choose from any Crown award category and must follow the same criteria. (There is no fee to submit a nomination for the student awards category.)
Click here to submit your Student-Run Campaign Award entry.
Crown Awards - FAQ
Entry Requirements
Public relations and communications professionals from across the Charlotte region are encouraged to submit work completed from July 16, 2018 through July 15, 2019 that demonstrates outstanding skill, creativity and resourcefulness.
The awards are open to corporate communications and marketing communications teams, public relations agencies, public affairs firms, investor relations agencies, publicists, nonprofits, PR educational professionals, government PR teams and solo practitioners based in the Charlotte Designated Market Area (DMA).
Additionally, entries will be accepted for campaigns designed for execution within the Charlotte DMA.
Eligibility
At least some part of the campaign must have occurred from July 16, 2018 through July 15, 2019. Programs tend to have better chances of winning near their completion, when evaluation against initial objectives can be measured.
Entry Fees and Deadlines
Call for entries opens May 1, 2019, and closes on July 15, 2019, at 5 p.m. (EST).
Entries received by 5 p.m. on June 1, 2019 (EST) will receive the Early Bird rate.
All entry fees are below:
PRSA Charlotte Member (Early Bird): $125 for first entry; $75 for additional entries
PRSA Charlotte Member (entries received from June 2-July 15): $200 for first entry; $175 for additional entries
Non-member (Early Bird): $175 for first entry; $125 for additional entries
Non-member (entries received from June 2-July 15): $250 for first entry; $225 for additional entries
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Click here for the 2019 QCPR Awards Information
Additionally, the Queen City PR Awards program honors up to three outstanding individuals in our community. Charlotte PRSA selects a Pegasus Award honoree and an Infinity Award honoree each for their outstanding contributions to the Queen City.
The PRSA Charlotte Board of Directors may also select an honoree for the PRSA Charlotte New Professional Award, which honors a member with no more than seven years' experience who exemplifies strong professional capabilities, leadership qualities, and service to the public relations community.
Infinity Award
Click here to submit your Infinity Award entry.
Established in 1975, PRSA Charlotte's Infinity Award is the highest honor that the Chapter gives to a public relations professional.
Nominees for this award should be individuals who have dedicated their careers to the practice of public relations and who have achieved substantial success in their professional work. Nominees should represent the highest standards of ethical conduct in the practice of public relations. Nominees should also have demonstrated their commitment to the profession through service to PRSA Charlotte or PRSA, or by lending their professional expertise to mentor individuals or assist community organizations.
Pegasus Award
Click here to submit your Pegasus Award entry.
Since 1992, PRSA Charlotte has given the Pegasus Award to an individual outside of the public relations profession who demonstrated superior knowledge and use of public relations for the betterment of the community.
Nominees must be a leader of a corporation, business, or an educational, medical, cultural, civic or charitable organization (public or private, profit or nonprofit) located in the Charlotte community or surrounding region.
Public relations practitioners, working members of the news media and other individuals who are paid for media appearances, writing and other PR/communications services are not eligible for nomination.
Criteria:
The nominee must be a respected leader who has made significant contributions to the betterment of the community, enhancing its reputation and prestige through the effective use of exceptional communication and public relations practices.
For example, the nominee should be someone who, through good communication practices, has helped his or her organization develop effective relationships with many different audiences or publics, including employees, members, customers, local communities, shareholders, and other institutions that, in turn, has made a difference in the community.
New Pros Award
Click here to submit your New Pros Award entry.
The PRSA Charlotte New Professional Award began in 2007 to honor a member who exemplifies strong professional capabilities, leadership qualities, service to the public relations community and a respected character. PRSA members with a maximum of five years of professional public relations experience qualify for this honor. The award honoree is at the discretion of the PRSA Charlotte board of directors and may not be awarded each year.
Criteria:
The New Pros Award recognizes a younger member of PRSA Charlotte with five or fewer years of experience as a public relations professional. The nomination should address what qualifies the individual as a promising young practitioner with a bright future in public relations. What makes him or her stand out from their peers? What responsibilities does this nominee hold for his or her job? What has he or she accomplished early in their career? Nominees must be a member in good standing of PRSA and PRSA Charlotte. Membership status will be confirmed before the nomination is forwarded to the judges.
Crown Awards Entry Tips and Tricks
Entry Workshop!
Join us from 9 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 5 for an Entry Workshop. We will hear from a category winner on how they created their entry and then we will dive into our own campaigns and start writing (yes, in the meeting!) our entry.
Come prepared with a campaign you want to enter. You don't have to have all the information. That's what the workshop is for... to help go over the four categories of your entry.
Our hope is at the end of the session you will have a near complete entry, can finish it up and submit it by the Early Bird deadline. No more scrambling at the last minute!
The workshop will be from 9-10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 5, at the Charlotte Housing Authority (400 East Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28203). Click here to register and save your seat.
Entries and Awards Program
Entry fees and attendance at the awards luncheon are separate. Please use the following links to submit an entry and register for the awards luncheon. Awards finalists will be announced a week or two before the event.
Submit Your Entry or Individual Nomination
Register for the Awards Luncheon
