The Publicity Club of New England announced the winners of its 48th annual Bell Ringer Awards. The awards ceremony, held on Thursday, June 9 at the House of Blues in Boston honored public relations and communications professionals from 42 agencies and organizations across New England, demonstrating the excellence in public relations and communication initiatives.
The Platinum Super Bell Award
The Platinum Super Bell Award, presented to the organization that executed the best communications campaign of the year, went to Raytheon Company for “The Cure for Performance Anxiety: A Healthy Dose of Pride, Confidence and Business Smarts – Employee Communications Campaign.”
“Standing out amongst New England’s most creative communicators is a tall order,” said Pam Wickham, vice president of Corporate Affairs and Communications at Raytheon. “Winning six Bell Ringer awards –including the Platinum Super Bell – was such an important validation for our team’s work to support Raytheon’s most critical programs and employee-based initiatives. It was truly a magical night.”
This year’s Platinum Super Bell finalists included Lois Paul and Partners, MSLGROUP, and John Guilfoil Public Relations. The evenings top winners were SHIFT Communications and Cone Communications each with 14 awards; 360 Public Relations with nine awards; and March Communications with seven awards.
John J. Molloy Crystal Bell Lifetime Achievement Award
In addition to recognizing the inspiring work of communications teams across the region, the Club honored Philip A. Nardone Jr. of PAN Communications with the 2016 John J. Molloy Crystal Bell Lifetime Achievement Award for his significant achievements in the industry.
“I’m extremely grateful to my peers in the industry for this recognition, I owe a great deal to those that have got me this far including my PAN friends and amazing clients,” said Philip A. Nardone Jr., President and CEO at PAN Communications. “This honor is a true testament to the talented people I’ve been fortunate enough to collaborate with over the last 30+ years. To everyone recognized on June 9th at the Publicity Club dinner, I stand in great company and look forward to our future together as we continue to change and impact the industry to its greatest potential.”
Bell Ringer Professional & Student Awards
The Club also presented two professional awards at the June 9 event: the Striker Award and the Ringer Award. The Striker Award recognizes a practitioner who demonstrated an early love of the field, a dedication to their career and a superior work ethic. This year, Jonathan Gregalis of PAN Communications was chosen as the recipient for excelling in PR in a very short period of time and has surpassed other newcomers in the organization and in the field.
The Ringer Award honors a practitioner who demonstrated steady and significant progress in impacting his or her agency, company or practice and the New England PR community since entering the field of public relations. This year, the award was presented to Jennifer Toole of SHIFT Communications for being known by her colleagues and clients as a model practitioner, committed to advancing her personal growth, that of her company and that of the field.
The Club continued its annual student scholarship program by awarding the 2016 William Cavanaugh Student Grant to Holly Ledoux of Simmons College for her superior academic achievement.
About the Bell Ringer Awards
In 1969, on The Publicity Club of New England’s 20th anniversary, the Bell Ringer Awards program was instituted to recognize public relations work which demonstrates excellence in creative planning and professional education and exhibits a high degree of success in reaching predetermined objectives. Open to all New England practitioners, the program symbolizes one of the greatest tributes in any field of endeavor – the recognition of superior performance by one’s peers.
Check out all of the photos in this interactive gallery, courtesy of Pretty Instant!
This year’s Bell Ringer Awards ceremony was hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist, Frank Holland of WCVB Channel 5. For this year’s charity auction recipient, Holland selected Guide Right, a youth-oriented leadership, mentoring, college preparatory programs, and tutoring program for high school and college students supported by the Greater-Boston Kappa Charities and affiliated with the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
Thank You To Our Sponsors
The Publicity Club of New England would also like to thank all of the sponsors of this year’s event, as well as The House of Blues.
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About the Publicity Club of New England
Founded in 1949, The Publicity Club of New England is the region’s oldest professional organization for public relations, communications, special events, and marketing professionals. The Publicity Club strives to promote and encourage involvement in the communications industry and specifically the professions of public relations, promotions and marketing.
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