Davis Public Relations Wins Fourth Best in Show Award for Public Relations Excellence

Central Carolina Community Foundation CEO JoAnn Turnquist (left) and Director of Communications Tonia Cochran (right) join Kelly Davis (center) in displaying the three awards won for the Foundation.

Central Carolina Community Foundation CEO JoAnn Turnquist (left) and Director of Communications Tonia Cochran (right) join Kelly Davis (center) in displaying the three awards won for the Foundation.

Davis Public Relations and Marketing won its fourth Best in Show Award and four other Awards of Excellence during the South Carolina Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America’s(SCPRSA) annual Mercury Awards banquet held April 25 in Greenville.

Each year, SCPRSA recognizes excellent public relations programs, campaigns, publications, print materials and individual achievements in communications. Mercury Awards recognize campaigns while Silver Wing Awards recognize tactics. The competition is open to anyone in the communications field in South Carolina. This year, the Nebraska Chapter of PRSA judged the entries submitted by South Carolina public relations practitioners.

The Best in Show Silver Wing Award recognized the media relations campaign that Davis Public Relations conducted for Central Carolina Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Week 2012.Central Carolina Community Foundation (CCCF) is a nonprofit organization serving 11 counties in the Midlands of South Carolina by helping charitable individuals and businesses meet the needs of the community. In 2012, they took a national observance, Community Foundations Week, and rebranded it locally as Philanthropy Week in order to empower individuals and businesses throughout the community to engage in philanthropic activity and to highlight philanthropy beyond the work of the Foundation alone.

In addition to the Best in Show Award, Davis Public Relations received four other Awards of Excellence in this year’s competition:

  • Mercury Award for Events and Observances (Seven Days or Fewer) for the grand opening of South Carolina’s first Smashburger restaurant. Davis PR partnered with West Columbia-based Riggs Partners on this project.
  • Silver Wing Award for Media Relations -Government/Associations/Nonprofits for Central Carolina Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Week 2012.
  • Silver Wing Award for Media Relations – Business to Business for the grand opening of Canadian manufacturer Innovative Composites, Inc.’s plant in Orangeburg, SC. Davis PR partnered with Toronto-based Creative Bube Tube for this project.
  • Silver Wing Award for Editorials and OpEd Columns for an op-ed written Central Carolina Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Week.

Davis Public Relations and Marketing is a full service, independent communications firm that was founded by Kelly Davis, APR in 2004. Since its founding, the agency has received more than forty awards for outstanding public relations campaigns and tactics. With this year’s awards, Davis Public Relations has won SCPRSA’s prestigious Best in Show Award four times in the last seven years. Davis Public Relations is the exclusive South Carolina member of the PRConsultants Group, a nationwide affiliation of independent public relations firms with senior-level PR counselors in each of the top 50 U.S. markets.

The firm’s founder and CEO, Kelly Davis, was recognized as SCPRSA’s Distinguished Public Relations Practitioner of the Year in 2007. She serves as a Director-at-Large on the National Board of Directors of the Public Relations Society of America, and she is a member of PRSA’s Counselors Academy. Locally, Davis is the Vice Chair of Communications for the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; an adjunct professor of public relations at the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications; and a 2009 graduate of Leadership Columbia.

Davis Public Relations won five awards, including Best in Show and four Awards of Excellence, in the 2013  SCPRSA Mercury Awards competition.

Davis Public Relations won five awards, including Best in Show and four Awards of Excellence, in the 2012 SCPRSA Mercury Awards competition.