2023 Queen City PR Awards


The Queen City PR (QCPR) Awards
 recognize the excellent work of Charlotte-area public relations practitioners and organizations. Winning entries receive the Crown award, the highest public relations professional honor in our region. QCPR also recognizes community individuals with its annual Infinity Award, Pegasus Award, New Pros Award and Mosaic Award.


Get ready for multiple awards

The QCPR Crowns are modeled on PRSA's Silver Anvil and Bronze Anvil Awards so entries can be easily adapted for submission in PRSA's national awards program the following year. 


Congratulations to the 2023 QCPR Crown Award Winners.

Thank you to our sponsors Boingo Graphics, Retail Business Services and Duke Energy for making our annual awards ceremony a success!

  • Brand Journalism

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • Atrium Health Athletic Training Month: Atrium Health Musculoskeletal Institute

  • Community Relations

    • Business

      • Luquire Hero to our Heroes

  • Crisis

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • City of Salisbury Livingstone College Shooting Incident

  • Digital and Social

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • Atrium Health National Smile Day

    • Business

      • Sonic Automotive, Inc. Amplifying the Sonic Automotive Employer Brand through LinkedIn

  • Events and Observance

    • Business

      • Retail Business Services RBS Friendsgiving

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • Advocate Health Doctors Day 2023

  • Integrated Communications

    • Business

      • Rachel Sutherland Communications Louisiana x Charlotte

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont Goodwill's Annual Bridal Event

  • Media Relations

    • Solo Practitioner

      • By George Communications Getting to Know Your Charlotte Ballet Again

    • Business

      • Luquire Fill your tank while feeding your family: Bojangles helps you do both

    • Gov/Assoc/Nonprof

      • Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont Construction Makes Room for Women

  • Multicultural/DEI

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont Goodwill's Juneteenth Celebration

  • Organizational Relations/Internal Comms

    • Business

      • Sonic Automotive, Inc.-- Internal Communications for the Launch of Gympass, an Employee Well-being Application

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • Holy Angels Angel Voices

  • Print: 

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • Holy Angels Angel Print

    • Business

      • Retail Business Services Manager Minute

  • Video: 

    • Gov/Assoc/NonProf

      • CMPD Journey to the Badge

    • Business

      • Duke Energy People and their perspectives: using inclusive storytelling to enhance D&I communications

Individual Awards

  • Mosaic Award Given to a public relations professional who greatly and consistently champions the diversity and inclusion cause through work in the PR sector.

    Loán Lake, Chief Communications Strategist, Gobi Marketing Group
    Loán Lake (pronounced Lo-An) is a journalist, published author, and a public relations strategist who got her start in public relations on Capitol Hill. Since then, she has led communications and marketing for global non-profits, fortune 500 companies, churches, and tourist destinations. She has over 20 years' experience as a writer, communicator, public speaker, and brand builder with a focus on multicultural markets. Her work is influenced by her upbringing in a multicultural community in the U.S. Virgin Islands, her training as a DEI facilitator, a desire to debunk stereotypes and misperceptions about people of color.  

    Loán is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Charlotte Chapter and leads the Diversity and Inclusion committee's mentoring initiative for students at Johnson C. Smith University.  She is also a former panelist at 2020 PRSA ICON and recently led a panel discussion at the 2023 PRSA Travel and Tourism Conference. Through her consulting practice, Gobi Marketing Group, she helps clients to identify the right approach to find and connect with their target audiences from a multicultural perspective. Loán is passionate about building strategic partnerships, all things tourism, creating culturally inclusive communications strategies, and telling stories that have a positive impact on the world. She resides in Charlotte with her husband Earl. 

  • Pegasus Award Given to an individual outside of the public relations profession who demonstrates superior knowledge and use of public relations for the betterment of our community.

    Glenn Burkins, Founder and Publisher, Qcitymetro
    Glenn H. Burkins is the founder and publisher of Qcitymetro, a digital platform launched in 2008 that provides news and information relevant to Black communities in the Charlotte region. Glenn previously was business editor and later deputy managing editor for news at The Charlotte Observer. He has been a reporter at newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times and Los Angeles Times. At The Wall Street Journal, he covered the Labor Department and the Clinton White House. As Africa bureau chief for the Philadelphia Inquirer, he covered the historic election of Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and one of the early outbreaks of Ebola in the former Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo). Glenn holds a journalism degree from the University of South Carolina.



  • New Pros Award Given to a new public relations professional and member, with a maximum of seven years of professional communication experience, who exemplifies strong professional capabilities, leadership qualities, service to the public relations community and a respected character.

Danielle Doolen, Corporate Communications Manager, Sonic Automotive, Inc.
Danielle Doolen is the Corporate Communications Manager at Sonic Automotive, Inc., a Fortune 500 Company and one of the nation's largest automotive retailers. Her focus includes creating and executing internal communication strategies, fostering company culture, driving diversity, inclusion, and belonging efforts, and connecting the company's teammate population of over 10,000 teammates in more than 140 locations nationwide. She holds a Master of Science (MS) in Professional Accountancy from the University of Albany and began her career in public accounting prior to falling in love with writing and storytelling. In addition to her role in corporate communications, Doolen is a career and finance writer. Her writing has appeared in outlets such as Career Contessa, Fast Company, Motherly, POPSUGAR, PRSA Strategies & Tactics, The Everygirl, The Everymom, The Financial Diet, and more.

  • Infinity Award Given to a public relations professional whose character, career and service represent the highest standards and who excels in the practice and/or has accomplished an outstanding one-time achievement.
Colleen Brannan, President, BRANSTORM PR & Marketing Inc.
Colleen is a veteran public relations and marketing communications professional with 30+ years of experience that includes top national firms, large corporations, niche consultancies and integrated shops. In 2006, she took the entrepreneurial leap by founding BRANSTORM PR & Marketing. Prior to that, she was SVP, Director of Public Relations at one of Charlotte's top agencies.

Her background spans a wide range of categories and includes brand-building efforts for household names such as Hanes, Chick-fil-A, Bissell, MCI, Newell Rubbermaid and Wachovia. Today, her clients range from professional service firms and commercial real estate developers to entertainment and consumer product companies.

Prior to coming to Charlotte, Brannan was vice president of public relations at Mullen in Winston-Salem. Before that, she spent a decade in Atlanta at top national firms, Ketchum and Cohn & Wolfe, as well as client side on the PR and corporate communications teams of MCI and media giant, Cox Enterprises.

Colleen got her start on the consumer healthcare team at Ketchum PR in Washington touting the benefits of aspirin the wonder drug where her team won the prestigious PRSA Silver Anvil Award. Since then, her career has taken her on top of the Olympic stadium, back stage at the CMA Awards, on the field for the inaugural WUSA match, in stores as a secret shopper and on the local campaign trails.

Career highlights to date include managing Centennial Olympic PR for Hanes, becoming Media Director of Cohn and Wolfe, leading the Field PR team at MCI, launching the first-ever women's pro soccer league (WUSA), heading external communications for Cox Enterprises and starting her own firm in 2006.

Locally, she has been named one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Charlotte by the Mecklenburg Times twice (2010 and 2014), a Top 25 Women in Business by the Charlotte Business Journal twice (2011 and 2022), a Mecklenburg Times ICON (2018) and a member of The Charlotte Ledger's Inaugural 40 Over 40 Class (2020).

Colleen is an active member of the Uptown Rotary Club, Women Executives (WE), Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and Hospitality and Tourism Alliance (HTA). She is a graduate of Leadership Charlotte Class 30, past president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO Charlotte) and a 30+ year member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). In 2020, she became a licensed NC Commercial Real Estate Broker, demonstrating her diverse skill set.

Deeply engaged in the community, Colleen has served on many nonprofit boards including South Charlotte Partners, SHARE Charlotte (Chair 2020 & 2021), Uptown Rotary Club (Secretary), JDRF and Providence Day School Charger Club. She also pens a popular monthly humor column for The Charlotte Ledger. With a dynamic career and a heart dedicated to her community, Brannan is a true force to be reckoned with.

A native of Springfield, Virginia, she is a proud alumna of the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications. Go Gamecocks! She currently resides in South Charlotte, living in "a house divided" with her Clemson Tiger husband, Scott, rescue dog, Violet and two favorite emerging brands, Nicholas (21 -UNC Tar Heel) and Phoebe (19-USC Trojan).



Crown Award: Awarded across three subcategories (Business Products/Services, Government/Associations/Nonprofit Organizations, Solo Practitioner), the Queen City PR Crown Awards are the Charlotte region's highest honor of public relations activities. It is awarded to practitioners who, in the judgment of other public relations professionals, have successfully researched, planned, implemented and evaluated communication campaigns with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness. Categories:

 

  • Integrated Communications
  • Community Relations
  • Crisis Communications
  • Organizational Relations/Internal Communications
  • Shoestring Budget Campaign
  • Video
  • Digital/Social Media
  • Brand Journalism
  • Print
  • Multicultural/Diversity and Inclusion
  • Influencer/Blogger Relations
  • Events/Observances
  • Media Relations
Individual Awards:

Pegasus Award: Given to an individual outside of the public relations profession who demonstrates superior knowledge and use of public relations for the betterment of our community.


Infinity Award: Given to a public relations professional whose character, career and service represent the highest standards and who excels in the practice and/or has accomplished an outstanding one-time achievement. 


Mosaic Award: Given to a public relations professional who greatly and consistently champions the diversity and inclusion cause through work in the PR sector. 

New Pros Award: Given to a new public relations professional and member who exemplifies
strong professional capabilities, leadership qualities, service to the public relations community and a respected character. PRSA members with a maximum of seven years of professional public relations experience qualify for this honor. 


Fine print:


JUDGING
PRSA Charlotte is partnering with the Wisconsin chapter of PRSA to judge our 2023 campaign entries. PRSA Charlotte board of directors will select the recipient of this year's Pegasus Award, New Pros Award, and Mosaic Award, and past Infinity Award winners will select the recipient of the Infinity Award. When judging is complete and winners have been selected, finalists and individual award recipients will be notified.


NOTIFICATION OF AWARDS
When judging is complete and winners have been selected, finalists and individual award recipients will be notified.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Public relations and communications professionals from across the Charlotte region are encouraged to submit work completed from August 1, 2022 through July 30, 2023, 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 only be accepted for campaigns designed for execution in the Charlotte DMA.

ELIGIBILITY
At least some part of the campaign must have occurred from August 1, 2022 through July 30, 2023. 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 July 1, 2023, and closes August 11, 2023, at 5 p.m. EST. All entry fees are below:


Standard Entry Fee (July 14 - Aug. 11 at 5 p.m. EST)
  • PRSA Charlotte Member: $150 for first entry; $125 for additional entry
  • Non-Member: $200 for first entry; $175 for additional entry
Late Entry Fee (August 12 - August 18 at 5 p.m. EST)
  • PRSA Charlotte Member: $200 for first entry; $175 for additional entry
  • Non-Member: $250 for first entry; $225 for additional entry
Questions?
Email Christy Jackson, chair of the QCPR Awards, at cjack113@charlotte.edu.

Download Full Awards Information for additional entries

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