PRSA, the nation’s leading professional organization serving the communications community, will present five awards during ICON 2021, which is being held virtually from October 4-20, 2021. The honors are for individual achievement and significant contributions to the public relations profession.
“It is a real pleasure to get the chance to recognize and honor individuals who through their achievements have truly made a difference in the public relations profession and community,” said Michelle Olson, APR, PRSA 2021 Chair. “Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you for serving as role models, mentors, and inspirations to us all.”
Gold Anvil Award – Dean A. Kruckeberg, Ph.D, APR, Fellow PRSA
PRSA’s highest individual award, the Gold Anvil recognizes lifetime achievement in public relations, and will be presented to Dean A. Kruckeberg, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, a tenured full professor in the Department of Communications Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. From 2000 through 2002, he was a Director-at-Large on PRSA’s Board of Directors, served as Midwest District Chair from 1993-94 and was the 1988-89 President of the Cedar Valley Chapter. He also served as the 2010 Chair of PRSA’s International Section, and from 2006 through 2009 he was a member of PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards.
Dr. Kruckeberg is also a former PRSSA National Faculty Advisor (1989-91) and was Faculty Advisor of PRSSA Chapters at the University of Iowa, Northwest Missouri State University and the University of Northern Iowa. From 1997 to 2012, he was Co-Chair of the Commission on Public Relations Education, and he served as Chair of the Educators Academy and Co-Chair of the Educational Affairs Committee in 1997. Dr. Kruckeberg is a member of PRSA Charlotte and the Lead Academic Advisor of the Inez Y. Kaiser Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Greater Kansas City Chapter of PRSA. He is co-author of numerous publications, including the 11th (2013), 10th (2010), 9th (2006), 8th (2004), 7th (2000) and 6th (1996) editions of “This Is PR: The Realities of Public Relations.”
Outstanding Educator Award – Dawn M. Doty, APR
PRSA’s Outstanding Educator Award, which honors a PRSA member who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of public relations education through college or university teaching, is being given to Dawn M. Doty, APR. Joining the University of Colorado Boulder as a full-time public relations instructor in 2016, Doty helped to establish CU’s first-ever PRSSA chapter. Before transitioning to CU Boulder, she was a partner with Denver-based Linhart PR where her clients included Chipotle, Crocs, Rudi’s Organic Bakery, Southwest Airlines and the U.S. Air Force Academy, to name a few.
Doty is a career-long member of PRSA which includes leadership roles with the Chicago Chapter and Western District Board. She is a longtime judge of PRSA’s Silver Anvil Awards, and more recently has judged PRSSA’s Bateman Case Study Competition and PR Week’s Outstanding Student and Purpose Awards.
During her professional career, she has had a track record of achieving results in corporate, agency and nonprofit work environments including management positions in Chicago, San Francisco and Colorado for several global public relations firms, Orbitz, and Breckenridge and Keystone Ski Resorts. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Dayton where she was a member of the university’s PRSSA chapter. She earned her graduate degree in 2014 from The Johns Hopkins University.
Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to PRSA – Margaret Ann Hennen, APR, Fellow PRSA
Margaret Ann Hennen, APR, Fellow PRSA, is the recipient of this year’s Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to PRSA, which recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions in advancing PRSA and the professional development of its members.
A PRSA member for nearly four decades, Hennen is a communications and public relations professional in Minnesota’s business communities and president of Hennen Communication. She joined PRSA Minnesota shortly after leaving her secondary teaching career and remains active in her Chapter, having served on numerous committees and the board, including as president in 1997 and as the Chapter’s first ethics officer in 2000. In 2010, she created, with a colleague, the past presidents’ group to encourage re-engagement of former chapter leaders. Additionally, she was awarded the Donald G. Padilla Community Service Award in 1999.
Her PRSA involvement includes serving on the Board of Directors, the College of Fellows leadership track, the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards, multiple terms as Assembly Delegate, and liaison to the Universal Accreditation Board. She was one of the content creators and editors of the APR Study Guide in the mid-2000s, reflecting the 2000 revision of the Code of Ethics. She was inducted into the PRSA College of Fellows in 2009, led the committee that developed the College’s Standards of Excellence, co-chaired GoodFellows and served on its Selection Committee. She has mentored many PRSA members through APR preparation and in Fellows application preparation. Hennen is currently Chair-elect of the College and will serve as its 2022 Chair.
Atlas Award for Lifetime Achievement in International Public Relations – Anne Gregory, Ph.D.
Anne Gregory, Ph.D., will be honored with this year’s Atlas Award for Lifetime Achievement in International Public Relations, which recognizes a public relations practitioner who has made extraordinary contributions to the practice and profession of public relations in an international environment over the span of his or her career.
Professor Emeritus Gregory, from the University of Huddersfield, UK, is former Chair of the Global Alliance (GA) of Public Relations and Communication Management (2013 – 2015) and a past President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), which she led to chartered status. A Board level appointee in public relations consultancy for hospitals and Universities, she has also served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor at one of the UK’s largest universities, the first public relations professor to hold such a senior position.
Professor Gregory is a Reviewer for Government Communication appointed by the UK’s Prime Minister’s and Cabinet Office, and a member of the CIPR’s #AI in PR Panel, leading work on the impact of AI on our global profession. A true internationalist, she teaches and advises around the world on public relations leadership, planning, ethics, evaluation and capability, including for the UK Government, the European Union, in Australasia, Scandinavia, Asia, Africa and Europe.
She is also a world-leading researcher, being a co-author of the “Stockholm Accords,” the “Melbourne Mandate” and directing the work for the “Global Capability Framework” in conjunction with the Global Alliance and academics and practitioners worldwide. Professor Gregory holds the Sir Stephen Tallents Medal for her outstanding contribution to the profession, the Institute for Public Relations Distinguished Pathfinder award for research and the Premio Internacional Award, from the Portuguese Business Communication Association, for exceptional contribution to unify the public relations profession worldwide.
D. Parke Gibson Award – Crystal L. Kendrick
Crystal Kendrick will be presented with this year’s D. Parke Gibson Award, which recognizes a PR professional who has helped increase awareness of PR within multicultural communities and participated in the promotion of issues that meet the special informational and educational needs of diverse communities.
Kendrick is president of The Voice of Your Customer, a consulting firm specializing in market research, secret shopping and outreach campaigns. Under her leadership, The Voice of Your Customer was named the NMSDC National Supplier of the Year and the Cincinnati PRSA Small Agency of the Year. She has more than 25 years of global and domestic marketing experience targeting diverse populations, and serves on the board of the Spring Grove Funeral Home and Public Media Connect – CET/ThinkTV. She is a Diamond Life Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, and the past National Recording Secretary of The Links, Incorporated.
For her professional and philanthropic accomplishments, Kendrick has been named a YWCA Cincinnati Career Woman of Achievement, a Girl Scouts of Western Ohio Woman of Distinction and a Cincinnati Enquirer Woman of the Year.
Before launching The Voice of Your Customer, Kendrick held management positions at General Cable, Fifth Third Bank and Meritor. She holds a BBA in marketing from Temple University and an MBA in business administration from Northern Kentucky University. Kendrick completed Minority Business Executive Training Programs at Dartmouth College, Babson College and the University of Wisconsin.
About PRSA
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the nation’s leading professional organization serving the communications community. PRSA is the principal advocate for industry excellence and ethical conduct and provides members lifelong learning opportunities and leading-edge resources to enhance professional connections and support them at every stage of their career. With nearly 30,000 members, PRSA is collectively represented by 110 Chapters and 14 Professional Interest Sections, and on nearly 375 college and university campuses through its student organization, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). For more information, please visit prsa.org.
