Communicators of the Year
Each year, the Memphis Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) recognizes exceptional communication and engagement with its Communicator and Student Communicator of the Year awards and Legacy Achievement Award.
Nominations open for Communicators of the Year and the Legacy Achievement Award each fall - typically with a mid-to late-November deadline. A selection committee reviews the submissions and makes a recommendation to the PRSA Memphis board of directors in December and awardees are announced and recognized at an event in January or February each year.
Communicator of the Year
Memphis PRSA has presented its Communicator of the Year award for more than 45 years. Each year, the award is given to a member of the community for their outstanding ability to engage the public, achieve high visibility, and make significant community contributions. Awardees are not limited to PR professionals. The selection committee evaluates the challenges faced in achieving a goal and the impact on the community. Bud Dudley, the founder of the Liberty Bowl, was the Chapter's first recipient in 1976. Since then, notable honorees have included Penny Hardaway, Cecil Humphreys, Allie Prescott, Linn Sitler, D'Army Bailey, Mayor W.W. Herenton, John Calipari, Dr. Scott Morris, Fred Jones, Beverly Robertson, Molly Meisenheimer, Otis Sanford, and Ted Townsend.
Student Communicator of the Year
To recognize the Chapter's ongoing commitment to students, the Student Communicator of the Year award was established in 2021. The award recognizes an undergraduate or graduate student’s exemplary advocacy and community involvement in the Mid-South. Students do not have to be studying public relations or communications to be honored.
Legacy Achievement Award
In 2023, PRSA Memphis established the Legacy Achievement Award to honor a communications or media professional who has made a lasting impact on Memphis or a local civic or philanthropic organization. Memphis journalist Jennifer Biggs was posthumously honored with the Chapter's inaugural award for her bigger-than-life legacy in Memphis. As a longtime journalist for the Daily Memphian and Commercial Appeal, her stories, columns, podcasts, radio segments, and social media posts shared her love of Memphis and the Memphis restaurant scene for over 20 years. Yet, her legacy is more than the words she wrote. She was a communicator who cared about connecting people, sharing her passion for food and all the joy it brings to life, and celebrating the city she called home.
VOX Awards
Each year PRSA Memphis recognizes outstanding contributions made by industry professionals in the Memphis and Mid-South through the VOX Awards. VOX awards recognize the best strategic campaigns of the year, as well as outstanding organizational excellence, and tactics that contribute to the success of overall programs or campaigns. Additionally, the category of Memphis PRSA Stars honors the best practitioners in Memphis and the Chapter's outstanding member of the year.
We invite entries from all sectors of the industry including agencies, corporations, media, nonprofits, and freelancers. The VOX Awards are tailored to support the national PRSA Anvil Awards and are judged by a different PRSA Chapter every year. PRSA membership is not required to enter the VOX Awards except for the PRSA Memphis Chapter Member of the Year.
Nominations are typically due in August or September and the awards are presented at a gala event in November.
Memphis PRSA Stars
The Memphis PRSA Stars category of VOX is designed to recognize industry professionals at all levels.
The Rising Star is awarded to a current practitioner with three or fewer years of experience whose work has been exceptional and who is active in professional organizations or community service. The PR Star is awarded to a current PR practitioner with more than three years of experience whose work has been exceptional and who is active in professional organizations or community service. The PR Executive of the Year honors a current PR practitioner who is the highest-ranking member of a PR department or division of a Mid-South firm, organization, or institution that has produced exceptional work under the nominee’s leadership. He or she also should have made a notable contribution as a member of a professional organization or through his or her community service. The PRSA Memphis Chapter Member of the Year is awarded to a PRSA Memphis Chapter member for their outstanding service to the Chapter, its mission, and its members.
