Beehive PR earns ‘Best of Best’ honors at Bronze Quill Awards

Beehive PR took away the IABC Minnesota Pinnacle Award for its work on a global crisis communications response strategy for a Minnesota-based company. Announced Feb. 24 during the 2009 Bronze Quill Awards, the Pinnacle Award bestows “best of the best” honors on the top-scoring Bronze Quill Awards entry.

St. Paul-based Beehive PR is a privately held, 13-person firm certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise. The Pinnacle Award winner was submitted by Lisa Hannum, Katharine Mudra and Nicki Gibbs of Beehive PR. They also accepted an Award of Excellence for the entry, which managed the communications response to a crisis in 2008 that garnered worldwide media interest and intense local interest that threatened the company’s operations and brand.

The entry focused on a global response strategy that included Web relations, traditional media relations, internal communications, community relations and trade industry communications. The Web component included the creation of a central, definitive information hub meeting the needs of media and all stakeholders, as well as providing an outlet for emotion and community response. The tone and accuracy of the media coverage and gratitude expressed by company stakeholders were a testament to the success of the communications response.

IABC Minnesota President Julia Nelson, the evening’s emcee, kicked off the Bronze Quill Gala, calling it one of her favorite celebrations because “we set aside our ‘Minnesota Modesty’ to recognize the truly phenomenal work of some of the best communicators in Minnesota.”

The gala also included the first-ever IABC Minnesota Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to David Kistle, a well-known and respected member of the public relations and communications industry. He is remembered fondly as a role model and leader within IABC and his field-a leader who inspired his peers, clients, students and mentees to strive for strategic excellence and innovation.

Kistle is currently teaching for Webster University in Thailand and was not present to accept the award at the event. However, the audience was treated to a short video in which he called the award “an amazing end quote” to his life-long career. (Read more about David Kistle in an article elsewhere in this issue.)

Frank Vascellaro of WCCO-TV brought a storytelling quality to the keynote address by presenting a light-hearted view of the public relations and journalism professions-through anecdotes and a video that featured many local newscasters from KARE-11 and FOX-9. His video included many jabs and stereotypes, but in the end, Vascellaro said experience has shown him that the public relations, communications and journalism professions need each other. Even though technology platforms change, all these professions still seek well-educated, talented people who can use these ever-changing platforms to push the limits of communications.

Following Vascellaro’s address, Julia Nelson and IABC Minnesota President-Elect Dave Meyer introduced the awards segment of the program. This year, 105 entries were submitted for consideration among three divisions and 26 categories.

IABC Minnesota gave 11 Awards of Excellence and 27 Awards of Merit in the following divisions. Entries were scored on how well each reflected strategic thought, creative well-executed work plans and meaningful measurement. This year’s recipients illustrate how important strategic communication is to the overall success of an organization, as well as the breadth of talent in Minnesota.

View the full list of award winners.