Chicago Communicators Convene for Bronze Quill Award Ceremony

IABC/Chicago celebrated the 2012 Bronze Quill Award winners during a gala on Thursday, June 7 at Petterino’s in downtown Chicago. The event recognizes this year’s Bronze Quill Winners, committee volunteers and board members. In addition, the board of directors presented the inaugural Karen Utterback Volunteer Award to veteran communicator and IABC advocate, Joanne Kitsos, ABC.

The competition, in its 31st year, was open to all Chicago-area business communicators who completed a significant project in 2011 that embodied excellence in one of 27 categories across three divisions: communication management, communication skills and creative. The Bronze Quill Award recognizes communication professionals for their excellence in developing and executing business communication programs. Winning entries feature clear objectives supporting the organization’s goals, creative communication strategies and effective, measurable results.

“A Bronze Quill Award not only signifies excellence in the business communication practice but provides proof that an outstanding communication project helps to influence a company’s vision and its bottom line,” said Justin Brunner, Director of Awards for IABC/Chicago. “Bronze Quill winners can now say they are truly the best in class.” Winning entries were judged by seasoned IABC professionals from other chapters. Judging criteria is based on the stringent standards set by IABC, the leading global professional development organization for communicators, headquartered in San Francisco.

The 2012 Bronze Quill Award winners are:

Best in Show

MSLGROUP and Sealy Corp.
Integrated Marketing Communications

Government Relations

Award of Excellence
Steven Cline of Property Casualty Insurers Association of America

Community Relations

Award of Excellence
Lisa Claybon of Fleishman-Hillard and The Allstate Foundation
MSLGROUP and General Motors

Award of Merit
Jane Cooper of Cooper Hong Inc.

Integrated Marketing Communication

Award of Excellence
MSLGROUP and Sealy Corp.
Jane Cooper of Cooper Hong Inc.

Marketing Communication

Award of Excellence
Christine Heath and Meghan Fitzpatrick of Communications Consulting Worldwide and Follett Higher Education Group
MSLGROUP and General Motors Company
Denise Paleothodoros and Brian Blaise of GolinHarris and McDonald’s USA

Award of Merit
Alison Hamer of L.C. Williams & Associates

Issues Management and Crisis Communication

Award of Excellence
James Sloan of Navistar
Lisa Sodeika of HSBC North America
Lynda Baldwin of Communication Strategies Group and Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois

Award of Merit
Alison Hamer and Hunter Hackett of L.C. Williams & Associates
Queta Bauer, ABC, of Cultural Communications LLC

Employee/Member Communication

Award of Excellence
David Grossman, ABC, APR, of The Grossman Group and Accor North America
Debra Lynn Ross, ABC, of APP Pharmaceuticals/Fresenius Kabi USA

Award of Merit
James Sloan of Navistar

Human Resources and Benefits Communication

Award of Excellence
Kenneth Groh of Groh & Associates Inc. and OfficeMax Inc.

Brand Communication

Award of Merit
Cheryl Pearson-McNeil of Nielsen

Special Events – Internal or External

Award of Excellence
Kimberly Bernhardt of GolinHarris
Shawn Malayter of Morningstar Inc.

Award of Merit
Bryan Blaise of GolinHarris and McDonald’s USA

Economic, Social and Environmental Development

Award of Excellence
Gary Goodfriend and Alison Hamer of L.C. Williams & Associates

Electronic and Digital Communication

Award of Excellence
Theomary Karamanis of AKADREM Inc.

Social Media

Award of Excellence
MSLGROUP and Chevrolet

Electronic and Digital Communication

Award of Merit
Bonita Brodt of Northwestern Memorial Hospital

Writing

Award of Merit
Debra Lynn Ross, ABC, of APP Pharmaceuticals/Fresenius Kabi USA
Jane Cooper of Cooper Hong Inc.

Interactive Media Design

Award of Excellence
Jane Cooper of Cooper Hong Inc.

Outdoors/3-D

Award of Merit
Justin Brunner of Standard Parking Corp., Bruce Vogele of Folio Inc. and Erin O’Donnell of the Chicago Department of Aviation (Midway)

Previous winners represented companies small and large, including Motorola, Sprint, Boeing, Allstate, Accenture and Aon Consulting. Next year’s Bronze Quill Award call for entries will open in late fall.

Congratulations to this year’s winners!  Photos will be posted to our Flickr account soon!