2003 CPRS (TORONTO) ACE AWARD WINNERS

BEST OF SHOW

The Canadian Public Relations Society (Toronto) presented Deborah Weinstein and Barry Waite of Strategic Objectives Inc. with the "2003 Best of Show" award, sponsored by CCNMatthews, for their "Whole Foods Comes to Canada" campaign during the ACE awards. Some 50 public relations practitioners, working in corporate, agency, government and the not-for-profit sectors, also won awards at the annual gala event held on April 30, 2003, at the Liberty Grand, and attended by more than 350 industry members.

Award-winning entries were selected for "Achieving Communications Excellence" (ACE) from among 80 submissions in 23 categories, ranging from Best Use of Internet to Sports, Arts, Entertainment & Campaign of the Year.

Daniel Torchia, Torchia Communications and Pat McNamara, APEX Public Relations, were honored as Young PR Professional of 2003 (under 30-years-of-age) and PR Professional of 2003, respectively, in two new categories introduced in this year.

Other 2003 ACE award winners were:

CPRS (Toronto) Creative Excellence - Best Creative PR Campaign

GENERAL CONSUMER AWARDS

Sponsored by: News Canada Inc.

Sports, Arts, Entertainment & Media Campaign of the Year

Gold:

Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc., Pam Mollica for Curb Your Enthusiasm

Silver:

Alliance Atlantis Broadcasting Inc., Jodi Cook for Debbie Travis' Face Lift

Bronze:

Holmes Creative Communication, Katherine Holmes for 2002 Juno Awards

Product Brand Development Campaign of the Year

Gold:

Fantail Communications Inc., Jim Warrington for Operation Omelette, Canadian Egg Marketing Agency

Silver:

Argyle Rowland, Roanne Argyle for The So Good Recipe Contest

Bronze:

APEX Public Relations, Pat McNamara, APR for BMO Sharing the Wealth

New Product or Service Launch Campaign of the Year:


Gold:

Strategic Objectives, Deborah Weinstein for Whole Foods Comes to Canada

Silver:

Beef Information Centre, Lisa Mina for Iron Matters

Silver:

APEX Public Relations, Tracey Bochner for You've bean chosen: The launch of Vanilla Coke, Coca-Cola Ltd.: Kari Kerr

Bronze:

Hunter LaVigne Communications Inc., Mark LaVigne, APR, Leslie Hetherington for Pete's Tofu Launch Sunrise Soy Foods Inc.

INDUSTRY MARKET AWARDS

Healthcare Campaign of the Year

Gold:

ETC Communications, Eileen Tobey, APR for Bladder Blues in the Bathroom, Pharmacia Canada: Sandra Vlaar-Ingram

Hi-Tech Campaign of the Year

Gold:

Maverick Public Relations, Becky Porter for Corel Grafigo U.S. Launch

Business-to-Business Campaign of the Year

Gold:

Environics Communications Inc., Don Mograth. for Crisis in the Office Xerox

Silver:

Argyle Rowland, Daniel Tisch, APR for Telesat High Speed Internet

TARGETED AUDIENCE AWARDS

Employee Communications Campaign of the Year

Gold:

AstraZeneca, Sabita Singh, Einstein - Find it. Know it. Use it.

Silver:

Towers Perrin, Christine Brooks, APR for My Retirement My Decision

Bronze:

Regional Municipality of Halton, Carleen Carroll for Communicating Halton's Customer Service Strategy

Community Relations Campaign of the Year:

Gold:

Region of Peel, Elizabeth Netto for Peel Children's Water Festival

Silver:

Region of Peel, Annette Geldbert for 1,2,3 That's the Key

Bronze:

Region of Peel, Elizabeth Netto for Clear Scents

Multicultural Marketing Campaign of the Year

Bronze Award

Torchia Communications, Daniel Torchia for Connecting with Hispanic Market for Champion Car Race

CORPORATE AWARDS

Corporate Branding Campaign of the Year:

Gold:

Responsible Gambling Council, George James for Branding of RGCO

Silver:

Fleishman Hillard Inc.

Public Affairs / Government Campaign of the Year:

Gold:

Argyle Rowland, Amber Wallace for Norwegian State Visit to Canada

Silver:

Maverick Public Relations, Stephen Rouse for People Soft Development Centre Vancouver Launch

Crisis or Issues Management Campaign of the Year

Gold:

Fleishman Hillard Inc., Jane Shapiro for Bio 2002 Promoting the Promise

Silver:

Regional Municipality of Halton, Carleen Carroll for Sheltering the Homeless in Halton

Bronze:

APEX Public Relations, Pat McNamara, APR for Adobe Systems Acquisition Accelio

SOCIAL EDUCATION & PHILANTHROPY AWARDS

Public Sector Campaign of the Year

Gold:

Region of Peel, Tatiana Golovanova for 2002 West Nile

Silver:

Responsible Gambling Council, George James for Educational Outreach

Nonprofit Campaign of the Year

Gold:

Beef Information Centre, Margaret Thibeault for Food Thermometer Campaign

Silver:

Environics Communications Inc., Jennifer Schipper for Got Wheels? Get a Helmut

Bronze:

BenchMark Porter Novelli, Kathleen Stefanelli for ABC's of Liver Disease

Cause-related Campaign of the Year:

Gold:

Harbinger Communications, Vanessa Bond for Raising Awareness for Cystic Fibrosis with Zellers Zellers: Dan Ewing

Silver:

GPC International, Dawn McDowell, APR for CIBC World Markets

TECHNIQUE AWARDS

Best Use of Internet

Gold:

Fleishman Hillard Inc., Ann Lachance for AIMR Media Webinar Program 2002, AIMR: Rich Wyler

Silver:

Responsible Gambling Council, George James for www.responsiblegambling.org

Best Use of Research or Measurement

Gold:

Responsible Gambling, George James for Know the Score?

Best Use of Special Events

Gold:

>Apex Public Relations, Pat McNamara, APR for Levi's Store Grand Opening Rooftop Concert

Silver:

Fantail Communications Inc., Jim Warrington for Operation Omelette, Canadian Egg Marketing Agency

Bronze:

Faye Clack Marketing & Communications, Cory Clack-Streef for Ontario Tender Fruit Producers' Marketing Board

Best Use of Print & Publication:

Gold:

Siemens Milltronics, Janet Wile, APR for The Weighing and Feeding Guide

Silver:

Region of Peel, Janet Eagleson for The School Health Profiler

Bronze Award

AstraZeneca, Sara J. Taylor for The Employee Newsletter, Members: Renata Darling, Neglia Design

In addition, Robyn Taylor from Centennial College received the Maverick Student of the Year Award and awards for service to the profession were presented to: Felicia Shiu, AstraZeneca, for Mentor of the Year; and Elizabeth Price, Allstate Insurance Company of Canada, for Volunteer of the Year.

The 2003 ACE awards were sponsored by: amec; APEX Public Relations; Bowdens; CCN Matthews; Canada NewsWire; Canadian Press - Photo Assignment Services; Debut Brave Ideas; Environics Communications; Kraft Canada; Molson Canada; Liberty Group; Maverick Public Relations; Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation; and Toronto Hydro. The 2003 awards program was managed by Roxanne Cramer, CPRS (Toronto) Board Member and President, Cramer & Company.