CEO Award of Excellence in Public Relations – celebrating 20 years in 2013

Does your Chief Executive Officer create and communicate a vision for your organization? Has he/she demonstrated significant achievements in strategic communications and stakeholder relations in the past 18 months? If so, he/she might be eligible for the CPRS Toronto CEO Award of Excellence in Public Relations.

Please submit a current resume for your CEO, along with a written submission on how he/she has shown excellence in the various public relations disciplines that we consider for this distinction.

Full submissions can be sent electronically to Martin Waxman, APR – Chair of the Selection Committee at martinwaxman@gmail.com.

The spirit of the CEO Award, first created in 1991, is to recognize communications excellence and to advocate that a successful CEO must be an excellent communicator who can express a clear mission and shared values with a broad range of stakeholders.

Past recipients of the Award include Robert Deluce of Porter Airlines, Galen G. Weston of Loblaw Companies, Frances Lankin of the United Way of Greater Toronto, Michael Budman and Don Green of Roots Canada, and Piers Handling of the Toronto International Film Festival.

The CPRS (Toronto) award is determined by a selection committee comprised of the society’s past presidents, all Accredited Public Relations practitioners, as well as some national past presidents. Members are encouraged to submit nominations throughout the year.

CPRS TORONTO CEO AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

The successful candidate will have demonstrated significant achievement in all or most of these measures of excellence during the previous year.

MEASURES OF EXCELLENCE

Creating a vision:

The CEO has created a vision for the organization. (S)he has outlined goals, expectations and priorities and communicated this vision to the decision-makers in the organization.

Mechanism to deliver the vision:

The CEO has ensured there is a mechanism in place to make the vision a reality. This means either the establishment of a public relations department, the enhancement of the existing department, and/or evidence of considerable reliance on senior staff in the department. The public relations department is charged with assisting the CEO in the delivery of the vision through whatever means are appropriate for the organization.

Goals and beliefs of the organization:

Once the vision is created and the plan is in place to share it, it is also critical that the CEO is seen to exemplify the vision. His/her actions and behaviour, in both a professional and personal capacity, must be consistent with the character and goals of the organization.

Active member of the public relations team:

The CEO is familiar with the goals and objectives of public relations in the organization and is part of the team that establishes and approves the corporate public relations plan. (S)he is involved in major public relations decisions.

Media relations:

The CEO is one of the senior spokepersons for the organization and is available to grant interviews when issues arise.

Employee communications:

The CEO supports a proactive employee relations program and participates in some capacity. Two-way communication between employees and the CEO takes place in some shape or form.

Internal climate:

The CEO fosters a climate which is sensitive to the needs and concerns of external publics, not necessarily just those of the immediate interest to the organization.

Community support:

The CEO is involved in organizations and charities in the community.

Shareholders:

The CEO works on behalf of shareholders and is dedicated to communicating important information to them. (S)he is an active participant in the planning of the annual report and the annual general meeting. (S)he addresses shareholders’ concerns honestly and quickly.

Crisis communications:

The CEO has encouraged the development of a crisis communications plan and is familiar with it and/or has demonstrated excellence in handling an actual crisis.

Ethics:

Public relations activities in the organization are executed in accordance with the CPRS Code of Ethics and with the highest standards of integrity.

ELIGIBILITY

The CEO must be a permanent resident of Canada.

The organization must be incorporated in Canada.

The official title of the nominees from a company must be Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and/or President or the equivalent. The most senior paid staff person from a charity or association, and deputy ministers are also eligible. For the purposes of the measures of excellence, the CEO designation has been used.

The nominee must have been a CEO for at least six months.

The CEO must be nominated by one or more members of CPRS (Toronto) Inc.

NOMINATION

Nominations can be submitted by contacting:

Mr. Martin Waxman, APR

Email: martinwaxman@gmail.com

SELECTION PROCESS

By a panel of CPRS Toronto Past Presidents

PAST CEO OF THE YEAR AWARD RECIPIENTS

  • 2011 – Dr. Robert S. Bell, CEO of University Health Network
  • 2010 – Mr. Jim Leech, CEO of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
  • 2009 – Mr. Robert Deluce, President & CEO, Porter Airlines
  • 2008 – Mr. Galen G. Weston, Executive Chairman, Loblaw Companies Limited
  • 2007 – Frances Lankin, President and CEO, United Way of Greater Toronto
  • 2006 – Richard Bradshaw, General Director, Canadian Opera Company
  • 2005 – Michael Budman and Don Green, co-founders, Roots
  • 2004 – Wayne Sales, President and CEO, The Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited
  • 2003 – Piers Handling, CEO, The Toronto International Film Festival Group
  • 2002 – Julian Fantino, Chief, Toronto Police Service
  • 2001 – Mr. Charlie Baillie, President and CEO, TD Bank Financial Group
  • 2000 – Dominic D’Alessandro, President and CEO, Manulife Financial
  • 1998 – Bobbie Gaunt, President and CEO, Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited
  • 1997 – Diane McGarry, Former President and CEO, The Document Company – Xerox Canada
  • 1996 – Alan Stark, President and CEO, American Express Canada
  • 1995 – George Cohon, President and CEO, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited
  • 1994 – John M. Cassaday, Former President and CEO, CTV Television Network
  • 1993 – David Bloom, President and CEO, Shoppers Drug Mart
  • 1992 – Peter H. Ellis, President and CEO, Sunnybrook Health Science Centre