Inside the PR campaigns that won the 2012 PR Daily Awards

How did our judges settle on the winners of the 2012 Ragan/Factiva PR Daily Awards? In more than one category, the decision came down to a hair’s breadth of difference between several competitors.

When you read our accounts of the amazing resourcefulness and remarkable imagination of these campaigns, you’ll be surprised that we’re asking our judges to repeat the task of choosing just one winner in each category in 2013.

To all our entrants: Your willingness to undergo a searching examination of your best PR ideas evoked kudos from the experts who reviewed the several hundred entries.

Thanks to everyone who took part in the awards—and thanks for being part of the PR Daily community. Now sit back and read why these winners finished at the head of a tight pack. 

Categories

Best 'Traditional Still Works' PR Campaign

WINNER
Weber Shandwick and MilkPEP

Honorable Mentions

  • AMF Media Group
  • Mullen and Grain Foods Foundation
  • Nyhus Communications and Washington United for Marriage Coalition
  • SHIFT Communications and Zeo

Best Annual Report (Online)

WINNER
LifeBridge Health

Honorable Mentions

  • Duane Morris
  • Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Inc. Portland

Best Annual Report (Print)

WINNER
OCC

Honorable Mentions

  • Akron Children's Hospital
  • Legacy
  • NYU Langone Medical Center

Best Blog

WINNER
Nuts About Southwest
Southwest Airlines

Honorable Mentions

  • U.S. Department of Labor
  • Scholastic Inc.
  • Walt Disney Parks & Resorts

Best Branding Campaign

WINNER
Horn Group

Honorable Mentions

  • Proof Integrated Communications and PPG
  • Dodge Communications Inc. and California Healthcare Medical Billing
  • HB Agency and OTE Corporation
  • Travel Alberta 

Best Cause-Related Marketing

WINNER
Strategic Objectives and The Body Shop Canada

Honorable Mentions

  • Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
  • Spectrum
  • Marketing Elements Pty Ltd and White Ribbon
  • MWW Group and Museum of Mathematics

Best Client of the Year

WINNER
San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino and Diamond Public Relations

Honorable Mentions

  • Cognito and Verivo Software
  • K/F Communications and Chomp Inc.
  • SHIFT Communications LLC and Openet 

Best Community Relations Campaign

WINNER
America is Your Park
Allidura Consumer and The Coca-Cola Company

Honorable Mentions

  • Chase Card Services and The Glover Park Group
  • HanesBrands, Inc. and O’Malley Hansen Communications
  • Silver Spring Networks, Finn Partners and Blue Practice
  • Porter Novelli and the TORCH Program

Best Content Marketing/Brand Journalism

WINNER
Shepherd Center

Honorable Mentions

  • CQG
  • GE Capital
  • Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Inc. Bellevue and Microsoft 

Best Corporate PR Team

WINNER
Virgin Atlantic Airlines

Honorable Mentions

  • Aflac
  • Boehringer Ingelheim
  • Syngenta 

Best Corporate Social Responsibility

WINNER
Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Partners

Honorable Mentions

  • ABI Marketing Public Relations and Crown Holdings Inc.
  • Coca-Cola Turkey
  • Crosby~Volmer International Communications and Hilton Worldwide
  • Diageo
  • Shepherd Center 

Best Crisis Management

WINNER
AMF Media Group

Honorable Mentions

  • Burson-Marsteller and NEI
  • Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc.
  • Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Mexico Tourism Board
  • Jones Lang Lasalle

Best Electronic Newsletter

WINNER
U.S. Department of Labor

Honorable Mentions

  • Akron Children's Hospital
  • Essentia Health
  • The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sp;

Best Email Pitch

WINNER
VSCpr and MoviePal

Honorable Mentions

  • Cisco Systems Inc. and Text 100 San Francisco
  • Lola Red PR and European Wax Center
  • MWW Group and Nikon
  • Vantage Communications and Flingo

Best Event Marketing

WINNER
American Airlines and Weber Shandwick

Honorable Mentions

  • Cooper Hong Inc. and Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity ReStore
  • Fineman Public Relations and Foster Farms
  • Henson Consulting Inc. and The Pampered Chef
  • Ketchum Inc. and DoubleTree by Hilton

Best Executed Social Media Contest

WINNER
Affect

Honorable Mentions

  • Diageo PLC
  • MWW Group and Nikon
  • San Juan Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino and Diamond Public Relations
  • Virgin Atlantic Airways

Best External Publication (Print or Online)

WINNER
Cherokee Nation Businesses

Honorable Mentions

  • Akron Children's Hospital and Fine Point Public Relations and Advertising
  • Life Care Centers of America
  • LifeBridge Health
  • UCB Inc.

Best Facebook Page

WINNER
Springfield Clinic

Honorable Mentions

  • EmpowHER Media
  • Michigan Economic Development Corporation
  • RF|Binder Partners Inc. and Malaysia Kitchen

Best Fitness/Health Campaign

WINNER
Kaiser Permanente

Honorable Mentions

  • Mayo Clinic
  • National Restaurant Association
  • Shepherd Center

Best Green Initiative

WINNER
ABI Marketing Public Relations and Crown Holdings, Inc.

Honorable Mentions

  • Allidura Consumer and The Coca-Cola Company
  • American Airlines and Weber Shandwick
  • HanesBrands Inc. and O'Malley Hansen Communications
  • Virgin Atlantic Airways

Best Infographic

WINNER
Porter Novelli

Honorable Mentions

  • Kronos, Inc
  • MilkPEP and Weber Shandwick
  • Walker Sands Communication and Alterianian

Best Intranet

WINNER
The Nemours Foundation

Honorable Mentions

  • MedSynergies, Inc., myMedSynergies
  • NYU Langone Medical Center, NYULMC2

Best Listening and Media Monitoring Program

WINNER
Burson-Marsteller and NEI

Honorable Mention

  • Southwest Airlines

Best Mobile Strategy and/or Campaign

WINNER
Akron Children’s Hospital

Honorable Mentions

  • Mullen and CENTURY 21
  • Porter Novelli and SOYJOY

Best Online Newsroom

WINNER
Michigan Economic Development Corporation

Honorable Mention

  • Southwest Airlines

Best Op-Ed

WINNER
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

Honorable Mentions

  • Directions Marketing and SCA Tissue
  • HJMT Public Relations and Advanced Urology Centers of New York
  • U.S. Department of Labor

Best Podcast

WINNER
Dixon Schwabl, Greater Rochester Enterprise

Honorable Mention

  • Southwest Airlines

Best PR Presentation to a Financial Analyst

WINNER
Lockheed Martin Ms2

Best PR Research

WINNER
Determinus and the Strategies to Overcome and Prevent Obesity Alliance

Honorable Mention

  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid/PRIME Research/Porter Novelli 

Best PR Video

WINNER
Proof Integrated Communications and NRG

Honorable Mentions

  • Anaheim Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau and Purry Communications
  • Proof Integrated Communications and Personal Care Products Council
  • Michigan Economic Development Corporation

Best PR White Paper

WINNER
Barnes & Noble College Marketing

Honorable Mentions

  • Crosby~Volmer International Communications and CoreLogic
  • PR Newswire Association LLC
  • Quintiles

Best Product Launch

WINNER
Konnect Public Relations and Rhythm Superfoods

Honorable Mentions

  • Indigo Books & Music Inc.
  • Strategic Objectives Inc. and Unilever Canada
  • Unilever N. America, Degree Women®, and Weber Shandwick
  • Walker Sands Communication and SceneTap
  • Western Union Financial Services Inc.

Best Public Service Announcement

WINNER
American Academy of Ophthalmology

Honorable Mention

  • Legacy

Best Publicity Campaign

WINNER
RF|Binder, Inc. and BAND-AID

Honorable Mentions

  • Proof Integrated Communications and NRG
  • Jackson Spalding and The Coca-Cola Company
  • Ketchum Inc. and DoubleTree by Hilton
  • Sara Lee Corporation and O'Malley Hansen Communications
  • Waggener Edstrom Worldwide Inc. Bellevue and Microsoft Mobile
  • Monotype Imaging Inc.

Best Social Media Campaign

WINNER
MSLGROUP and the Singapore Tourism Board

Honorable Mentions

  • Burson-Marsteller and NEI
  • GE Healthcare
  • GYMR Public Relations
  • MLB Fan Cave
  • Mullen and Hanes Hosiery

Best Speech

WINNER
Olmstead Williams Communications

Honorable Mentions

  • U.S. Department of Labor
  • LIMRA
  • NETGEAR and Weber Shandwick

Best Traditional News Release

WINNER
Weber Shandwick and MilkPEP

Honorable Mentions

  • Domino's Pizza Inc.
  • Henson Consulting Inc. and Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises
  • PR Newswire Association LLC and SparkPR

Best Tweet of the Year

WINNER
Weber Shandwick and MilkPEP

Honorable Mentions

  • Lola Red PR and MyForce
  • Vantage Communications and YKK AP

Best Use of QR Codes in a PR/Marketing Campaign

WINNER
City of Sandy Springs

Honorable Mention

  • The Halo Group

Best Use of SEO

WINNER
Cooper Hong Inc.

Honorable Mention

  • Howell Marketing Strategies

Best Use of Social Media in a Crisis

WINNER
Consolidated Edison of New York

Honorable Mentions

  • Burson-Marsteller and NEI
  • General Motors and Fleishman-Hillard

Best Use of Twitter

WINNER
Burson-Marsteller and NEI

Honorable Mentions

  • RF|Binder Partners Inc. and Akerman Senterfitt
  • Virgin Atlantic Airways

Best Viral Campaign/Word of Mouth

WINNER
RF|Binder Inc. and Talenti Gelato

Honorable Mentions

  • C-SECTION and Sprite
  • Doremus
  • Travel Alberta

Best Website Launch

WINNER
Western Union

Honorable Mentions

  • Akron Children's Hospital
  • Burson-Marsteller, Proof Integrated Communications and Ford Motor Company
  • Home Front Communications and Association of American Railroads
  • Mullen and Tommee Tippee

Lifetime Achievement Award

WINNER
Huma Gruaz
Alpaytac Public Relations/Marketing Communications

Honorable Mentions

  • Hilary Topper, HJMT Communications LLC
  • Michael W. Kempner, MWW Group

PR Rookie of the Year (Corporate or Agency)

WINNER
Angela M. Byrne, Cognito

Honorable Mentions

  • Sophie Fischman, Cognito
  • Jesse Lawder, Department of Labor
  • Shelly May, Profiles Inc.

Grand Prize

Grand Prize

GRAND PRIZE
Ketchum Inc. and DoubleTree by Hilton

Honorable Mentions

  • American Airlines and Weber Shandwick
  • Horn Group
  • Allidura Consumer and The Coca-Cola Company
  • MLB Fan Cave
  • Nyhus Communications and Washington United for Marriage Coalition
  • Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Mexico Tourism Board