Congratulations to the winners of Ragan’s 2016 PR Daily Awards!

Our most popular awards program has named its winners and we’re so impressed with your efforts.

You brought attention to important causes using infographics and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Your traditional campaigns were just as surprising as your publicity stunts. Your use of live video proved that embracing new technologies can only lead to good things.

Current event and pop culture tie-ins gave your campaigns viral appeal. Using video put your accomplishments on display and served to reinvent the annual report.

You’re a part of an inspiring class of winners this year. We’re excited to celebrate your accomplishments and innovations in public relations.

To everyone who entered Ragan’s 2016 PR Daily Awards, thank you for sharing with us!

We are excited to announce the winners and honorable mention recipients for Ragan’s 2016 PR Daily Awards with this Special Edition of Ragan.com:

Categories

Annual Report

WINNER
2015 Highlights
American Dental Association

Honorable Mentions

  • American Cleaning Institute 2015 Sustainability Report: Understanding Today, Impacting Tomorrow, CooperKatz & Co, for American Cleaning Institute
  • 24 Hours in the Cherokee Nation: Cherokee Nation FY 2014 Annual Report, Cherokee Nation Businesses
  • UL’s 2015 Annual Report, Allison+Partners and UL
  • Kaiser Permanente in the Community Annual Report, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
  • New York Power Authority Annual Report 2015, New York Power Authority

Blog

WINNER
Inside UL Blog: Taking Stakeholders Behind the Scenes of UL
Allison+Partners and UL

Honorable Mentions

  • HealthCalling, St. Joseph Health
  • Ferrovial Blog, Ferrovial
  • prTini's Equal Pay, Equal Benefits: Introducing Our 10-Week Paid Leave Policy, Geben Communication
  • Monster Career Advice, Monster

Brand Campaign

WINNER
AAA—Refueling Automotive Expertise
AAA

Honorable Mentions

  • IKEA Cooks its Way into Chinese Hearts: It’s the Little Things that Matter, MSLGROUP China for IKEA China
  • Empowering Children on Seatbelt Safety: AXA’s No Belt, No Drive Safety Campaign, MSLGROUP China for AXA Group
  • Natrelle®: Shaping New Confidence in China, MSLGROUP China for Allergan
  • M&M’S 75th Anniversary: #CelebratewithM, Weber Shandwick for Mars Inc., M&M'S
  • Colman's Mustard "Hot Mess" Campaign, Rinck for Colman's Mustard
  • Gatorade—Leading Through Innovation, FleishmanHillard for Gatorade

Cause-Related Marketing

WINNER
Bacardi Employees Adopt No Straws Pledge
Bacardi Limited

Honorable Mentions

  • Saffolalife—Protect Her Heart, 20:20 MSL for Marico
  • LCI Advances Brain Health For Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation, Landis Communications Inc. for Global Alzheimer's Platform Foundation
  • Away from Blame: Cigna’s initiative to Fight the U.S. Opioid Epidemic, Cigna
  • MyCarDoesWhat, MSLGROUP for National Safety Council, University of Iowa
  • "Thanks to an LVAD . . ." National Awareness Campaign, SignalWest Public Relations for St. Jude Medical
  • Hope Help Honor, Luminate Marketing for Caris

Community Relations

WINNER
Australia's LEGENDAIRY Capital
Dairy Australia with Porter Novelli Melbourne

Honorable Mentions

  • Shop With Your Doc, St. Joseph Hoag Health
  • Welcome Jesters Video, Lockheed Martin for 461st FLTS
  • Hello Hope, Iziletisim for Turkcell

Content Marketing & Brand Journalism

WINNER
IKEA Cooks its Way into Chinese Hearts: It’s the Little Things that Matter
MSLGROUP China for IKEA China

Honorable Mentions

  • TechOhio Content Marketing Initiative, MediaSource for Ohio Development Services Agency
  • HealthCalling, St. Joseph Health
  • Ferrovial Brand Journalism Campaign, Ferrovial
  • Journey to Digital, CSC
  • Monster's "Life After Layoffs" Series, Monster
  • WorkWell and WorkLife, Unum and Colonial Life 

Corporate Social Responsibility

WINNER
Good Spirited: Building a More Sustainable Future
Bacardi Limited

Honorable Mentions

  • American Cleaning Institute 2015 Sustainability Report: Understanding Today, Impacting Tomorrow, CooperKatz & Company for American Cleaning Institute 
  • Empowering Children on Seatbelt Safety: AXA’s No Belt, No Drive Safety Campaign, MSLGROUP China for AXA Group
  • Pioneer Services—Creating a Culture of Social Responsibility, Pioneer Services, a division of MidCountry Bank
  • No Barriers, Turkcell
  • Reinventing the American High School, IBM + Ketchum

Event Marketing

WINNER
National Women Build Week
AgencyMSI for Habitat for Humanity International

Honorable Mentions

  • The Wildwoods’ Ultimate Tug-of-War Battle: The “Gig” Sightseer Tram Car vs. the AmeriCRUSH Monster Truck, Suasion Communications Group for The Greater Wildwoods Tourism Improvement and Development Authority (GWTIDA)
  • DCPLF & UNCENSORED: The Cocktail Party #UNCENSOREDDC, Scott Circle for D.C. Public Library Foundation
  • Calabrio Customer Connect 2016, Hotwire PR for Calabrio
  • Commvault Go 2016, Hotwire PR for Commvault
  • 2016 TMG Executive Summit, TMG
  • Victory: Invictus Games Orlando 2016, Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Invictus Games Orlando 2016

Health & Fitness Campaign

WINNER
"Thanks to an LVAD . . . " National Awareness Campaign
SignalWest Public Relations for St. Jude Medical

Honorable Mentions

  • For the First Time Ever, TV Doctors Save Real Lives! Edelman for Cigna
  • Sweet Retreat, Novant Health
  • Saffolalife—Protect Her Heart, 20:20 MSL for Marico
  • DTCC Supplemental Benefits Promotional Communications, Buck Consultants, LLC, a Xerox Company for DTCC
  • Boys & Girls Clubs of America Healthy Lifestyles Initiatives, AgencyMSI for Boys & Girls Clubs of America
  • Shop With Your Doc, St. Joseph Hoag Health

Infographic

WINNER
Violence Is Real: Infographic Series on Sexual Minority Youth and Violence
Center for Disease Control

Honorable Mentions

  • North American Safe Boating Campaign—Have the Right Life Jacket? Paul Werth Associates for the National Safe Boating Council
  • A Superhero's Guide to Career Victory, Monster

Location-Based Campaign

WINNER
Chick-fil-A Steps Into New York City Spotlight with First Store Opening
Jackson Spalding for Chick-fil-A Inc.

Honorable Mentions

  • Empowering Children on Seatbelt Safety: AXA’s No Belt, No Drive Safety Campaign, MSLGROUP China for AXA Group
  • Nihar Naturals #IAmCapable, 20:20 MSL for Nihar Naturals
  • Saffolalife—Protect Her Heart, 20:20 MSL for Marico
  • Restore Respect for 1924 Departed Jewish Citizens, Donath Business & Media for Kolel Damesek Eliezer

Online Newsroom

WINNER
Monster B2C Content Team
Monster

Honorable Mentions

  • Anadisgoi.com, Cherokee Nation Businesses
  • Online Newsroom, Vizient, Inc.
  • News.sling.com Launch, Sling TV

Pitch

WINNER
Introducing: The Anti-Wine Snob Wine Maker
INK for SLO Down Wines

Honorable Mention

  • Cutting Through the Noise: Creating a New (Virtual) Reality, Vested

PR On A Shoestring

WINNER
Red Land Little League 2015 U.S. Champions
LM Gnazzo Promotion Strategies and Nell McCormack Abom Communications

Honorable Mention

  • DCTA Celebrates A-Train Five-Year Milestone and Boosts Ridership with Fifth-Year Birthday Campaign, Denton County Transportation Authority Smart Strategies Overcome a Small Budget: Tier One Partners Helps Little MC10 Make a Big Impact at CES, Tier One Partners for MC10 Making FutureM the Must-Attend Marketing Event of Fall 2016, Tier One Partners for MITX's FutureM Return to Snake River Canyon, Jones Social & PR for Eddie Braun The MITRE UAS Challenge, the MITRE Corporation Semester at Sea in a Snap, Semester at Sea

Press Event or Media Tour

WINNER
Increasing Colorectal Screenings by Empowering Local Black Barbershops
Cigna

Honorable Mentions

  • M&M’S 75th Anniversary: #CelebratewithM, Weber Shandwick for Mars Inc., M&M'S
  • Hoverboard Technology Explodes onto the Market; Flipping the Safety Narrative through Media Days, Allison+Partners for UL
  • First Child to Undergo a Bilateral Hand Transplant Marks One Year Since Surgery at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Beer Camp Across America, SHIFT Communications for Sierra Nevada
  • National Youth of the Year, AgencyMSI for Boys & Girls Clubs of America
  • Call of Duty: XP: Leveraging the Power of Influencers and the Passion of Fans to Make the Biggest Call of Duty Fan Event In History An Unforgettable Pop Culture Event, PMKBNC, Edelman and
  • AKQA for Activision

Product or Service Launch

WINNER
Grand Entrance Mascara PR Campaign
Elizabeth Arden

Honorable Mentions

  • The Power of the Crowd: 700Bike’s Backstreet MINI Digital Campaign Crowdsources, Crowd-creates, and Crowdfunds Creativity, MSLGROUP for 700 Bike
  • #Roboqueue, Sherson Willis for Spark
  • Nano Dimension: Unbound Marketing Synthesizes a 3D Revolution in Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing, Rainier Communications for Nano Dimension
  • Binge Watching to Victory: How to Break a World Record and Launch CyberLink’s PowerDVD to Mainstream Audiences, Diffusion PR for CyberLink
  • Sheetz Bros. Coffee Launch, Planit for Sheetz
  • The Heritage of Ragu: Ingredients of Great Taste, Hill+Knowlton Strategies for RAGU brand/Mizkan America, Inc

Publication (Digital)

WINNER
Radius: Stories at the Edge
Weber Shandwick for VMWare

Honorable Mentions

  • American Cleaning Institute 2015 Sustainability Report: Understanding Today, Impacting Tomorrow, CooperKatz & Company for American Cleaning Institute 
  • NYPA Newsroom, New York Power Authority
  • CSC World, CSC

Publication (Print)

WINNER
Where the Casino Money Goes
Cherokee Nation Businesses

Honorable Mentions

  • Anadisgoi magazine, Cherokee Nation Businesses and Cherokee Nation
  • Unum 2015 Corporate Responsibility Report—Drawn to a Greater Purpose, Unum
  • Entrepreneur Placement, Lola Red for Nothing Bundt Cakes

Publicity Stunt

WINNER
Ball Drop
Sport Chek/FGL Sports

Honorable Mention

  • Captain Obvious Runs for President, Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Hotels.com

Social Media Campaign

WINNER
IBM x Marchesa: The Cognitive Dress
IBM

Honorable Mentions

  • The Power of the Crowd: 700Bike’s Backstreet MINI Digital Campaign Crowdsources, Crowd-creates, and Crowdfunds creativity, MSLGROUP for 700 Bike
  • Pass It On, Esurance
  • The 140, SAS
  • Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America, Largemouth Communications
  • The Nissan ALT16 Challenge: Catching A Glimpse of the All-New Nissan Altima, Zócalo Group for Nissan North America
  • Get Social. Give Back., Kronos Inc. Paws for Veterans

Traditional Campaign

WINNER
Establishing Puerto Rico as a Global Destination
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Puerto Rico Tourism Co.

Honorable Mentions

  • TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants Breaks Through "Chain Restaurant" Stigma With Strategic Communications Program, Identity for TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants
  • Wheels Up: Up The Way You Fly, JConnelly for Wheels Up
  • One Year Later, Chip Cards Continue to Confound 80 Percent of Consumers, InkHouse Media + Marketing for Cayan
  • Nonni's 2016 Public Relations Program. Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Nonni's Foods

Use of Facebook

WINNER
IBM on Facebook
IBM

Honorable Mentions

  • National Youth of the Year Gala, AgencyMSI for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America
  • RESTASIS Facebook Campaign, Pascale Communications for Allergan

Viral Campaign

WINNER
Election Insurance
Esurance

Honorable Mentions

  • "The Most Frustrating Chore" Goes Viral—FoldiMate, UPRAISE Marketing + Public Relations for FoldiMate
  • Shelter Buddies Reading Program, O'Malley Hansen Communications for Humane Society of Missouri
  • IBM Watson Creates Cognitive Movie Trailer, IBM + Highwire
  • IBM x Marchesa: The Cognitive Dress, IBM
  • The Lego Paper Airplane Machine Super Bowl Ad, Arrow Electronics, Inc.
  • Binge Watching to Victory: How to Break a World Record and Launch CyberLink’s PowerDVD to Mainstream Audiences, Diffusion PR for CyberLink

Website Launch

WINNER
The Business of Star Wars
Vested for Citadel

Honorable Mentions

  • Relaunch of Corporate Intranet (@Work), B.C. Provincial, BC Public Service Agency, Policy Innovation and Engagement Division @Work Web Team
  • al.nd.edu website redesign, University of Notre Dame—College of Arts and Letters
  • Blanc & Otus Website Launch, Blanc & Otus

Grand Prize

Grand Prize: PR Campaign of the Year

GRAND PRIZE
IBM Watson Connects with Consumers with Cognitive Creativity
IBM

Honorable Mentions

  • IKEA Cooks its Way into Chinese Hearts: It’s the Little Things that Matter, MSLGROUP China for IKEA China
  • AAA—Refueling Automotive Expertise, AAA National Office
  • Binge Watching to Victory: How to Break a World Record and Launch CyberLink’s PowerDVD to Mainstream Audiences, Diffusion PR for CyberLink
  • Chick-fil-A Steps Into New York City Spotlight with First Store Opening, Jackson Spalding for Chick-fil-A, Inc.
  • Imprimis Campaign, Pascale Communications
  • Establishing Puerto Rico as a Global Destination, Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Puerto Rico Tourism Company