American Red Cross PR Team Earns PR Professional of the Year Honors for Three Top Executives.

NEW YORK -- The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) presented its prestigious "Public Relations Professional of the Year" award to three top executives of the American Red Cross' public relations team at its annual Silver Anvil Awards Ceremony held last night at the Equitable Tower in New York City. Accepting the award were Charles D. Connor, senior vice president of communication and marketing, Darren Irby, vice president of public relations and Deborah S. Daley, vice president of corporate communication.

Connor, Irby and Daley and their 39-member public relations team are credited for quickly developing and implementing an organization-wide communication plan in preparation for what would become one of the worst hurricane seasons ever. The communication plan, readied by the time Hurricane Charley arrived last August, was instrumental in not only helping to bring the organization's disaster relief fund into the black, but also for working with the media to communicate how families could stay safe and where they could find Red Cross help.

"We are pleased to honor these three professionals from the American Red Cross with PRSA's PR Professional of the Year Award," said Kelly Womer, APR, ABC, chair of the PRSA Honors and Award Committee and partner, Carmichael Lynch Spong. "Their public relations leadership helped redefine the Red Cross brand and enhance the organization's reputation. Their efforts also contributed to our profession, and, more importantly, to people in need worldwide."

The American Red Cross PR team, led by Connor, Irby and Daley, acted on its research findings to create, for the first time in decades, an organization-wide public relations plan and to communicate the plan to its 900 chapters and blood regions nationwide. During a seven-week span, PR team members conducted more than 1,100 national media interviews, which played a key role in helping to raise money for the organization's disaster relief efforts.

Another significant achievement of the team was the collaboration with the intranet design team to create a centralized source for disaster fundraising information, updates and tools.

By announcing matching donation opportunities from generous corporate and philanthropic organizations, the team's extensive donation announcement strategy was crucial to the increase in financial contributions. They also teamed up with the advertising unit to create new public service announcements that leveraged the public's interest in disaster relief and the Red Cross response to the hurricanes, and thus to encouraged additional financial donations.

"The Red Cross' public relations team anticipated the crisis, put together a comprehensive, flexible and innovative communications plan and followed through beautifully," said PRSA President & CEO Judith T. Phair, APR, Fellow PRSA. "Their efforts illustrate the critical role that public relations can play in strengthening public trust in an organization while meeting vital public communications needs. They are truly deserving of the PR Professional of the Year Award."

The Public Relations Professional of the Year Award, initiated in 2000, represents the highest achievement in the practice of public relations by an individual(s) in a given year. The recipient(s) must have shown outstanding leadership and management skills by establishing a mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and the public upon whom its success or failure depends. Past recipients of the award include Grace Chen Trent and Brad Burns (2004), Victoria Clarke (2003), Tim Doke (2002), James E. Murphy (2001) and Rick Kaufman, APR (2000).

About PRSA

The Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org), based in New York City, is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals. The Society has more than 28,000 professional and student members. PRSA is organized into 114 Chapters nationwide, 19 Professional Interest Sections, along with Affinity Groups, which represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and nonprofit organizations. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has 259 Chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States.