PR professionals from around the globe came together at PR News' Platinum PR and Agency Elite Awards luncheon at the Grand Hyatt in New York City on Sept. 14 to celebrate the winners and honorable mentions of PR News' 2017 Agency Elite Awards.
The Agency Elite awards benchmark excellence in PR agencies’ key practice areas, from advocacy, crisis communications and social media to internal communications, media relations and reputation management.
Ryan Serhant of Bravo's "Million Dollar Listing New York" kicked off the day's festivities, engaging select attendees to join him on the podium to guess the price of New York real estate listings. Serhant co-presented awards to Agency Elite winners, along with PR News' editorial team, Tatiana Holifield-Arthur, director of senior social media marketing strategy at BET Networks and Jon Sullivan, director of corporate communications at Aflac.
Brad Burke, senior vice president at FleishmanHillard, took home the title of Agency AWE Professional for his work launching the Just Not Sports podcast, which, through its #MoreThanMean video campaign, fought online harassment of women.
"It's really simple. If we want to help women in this country, we do not start by solving problems for them," said Burke. "We need to listen to them."
Agency Elite awardees, even while celebrating recent successes, also looked to the future. Several winners, asked by PR News' editorial staff to name what skills would be most important for PR agencies in 2018, called for an increased focus on integrated communications.
Attendees tweeted their excitement and congratulated peers and teammates throughout the program:
Congrats to The Grove, @PRNews Agency Team of the Year. Great to see @gavinadv among so many talented nominees. #PRNews pic.twitter.com/sk7TsDHsYz
— Sarah Chain (@sarahEchain) September 14, 2017
Price is right on #Realestate w/ @RyanSerhant at #PrNews Awards Luncheon ... @BosparPR pic.twitter.com/Sv0RbqS4Q0
— Ivette Almeida (@IvetteAlm) September 14, 2017
View a full list of winners and honorable mentions at the 2017 Platinum PR & Agency Elite Awards site.