By Dick Shaner, Senior Vice President
Our entries – all 25 of them – in the annual Excalibur Awards program presented by the Buffalo/Niagara Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) have been submitted for judging. Their fate is now in the hands of a panel of public relations professionals from the Capital (Albany, N.Y.) Region Chapter of PRSA.
Created in 1990, the Excalibur Awards competition has become an annual tradition that recognizes programming, projects, professionals and executives for outstanding achievement in the practice and support of public relations in Western New York during the previous calendar year. A last-minute flurry of activity to finalize our nominations prior to the submission deadline has become a rite of spring here at Travers Collins & Company.
All entries are based on the ability to demonstrate that a public relations program or project met its objectives, effectively utilized its budget and resources, and achieved quantifiable outcomes. Blessed with great clients and interesting assignments, our firm has achieved a fair amount of success in this program over the years.
Since 1998 alone, we have won a total of 188 awards out of 259 entries, which means that nearly three out of every four nominations (72 percent) have met very specific and demanding judging criteria for outstanding achievement. In addition, two of our senior executives have been named the chapter’s public relations practitioner of the year, two associates have been honored as the organization’s rising star, and a handful of clients have been named the outstanding business executive for supporting the role of public relations within his or her organization.
While winning awards for our clients isn’t the primary focus of our efforts, our success in this annual competition clearly endorses our ability to plan, manage and evaluate public relations campaigns, and we take great pride in our success.
This year’s awards will be handed out at dinner on Thursday evening, June 18, at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens. This is always a fantastic night to renew acquaintances with many friends and colleagues in the local PR community, tell old war-stories and celebrate all the outstanding work that took place during the past year here at our agency and throughout the entire chapter.
We typically find out how we fared a couple of weeks in advance when letters or emails from the Excalibur committee arrive, congratulating those who submitted award winners, and thanking the rest for giving it the ol’ college try. It’s one of the most exciting days of the year at TC&C and I am already getting a bit nervous with anticipation.