Firm honored for strategic public relations, brand development and special events

The Public Relations Society of America’s Central Pennsylvania Chapter presented PRworks with three awards for projects completed in 2022-2023, bringing the firm’s number of industry awards to 15 during the past four years.

PRworks, a full-service branding, marketing and public relations firm with a presence in Harrisburg and York, earned a Keystone Award for developing and leading a public relations program for the Municipal Emergency Services Authority of Lancaster County, a Silver Keystone Award for a brand audit and developing a new brand identity for Women’s Resources of Monroe County (now Safe Monroe), and a Silver Keystone Award for leading strategic communications and a special event in support of advocacy for the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. The Keystone Awards recognize campaigns that comprised the four-step public relations process (research, planning, implementation and evaluation) and experienced measurable success.

“We are so grateful for these meaningful projects and the client partnerships that brought them to life,” said Jason Kirsch, principal and senior counselor at PRworks. “From ensuring that emergency medical services remain available to local communities, to making it known that the doors of a sexual abuse center and domestic violence shelter are open to all, to raising statewide awareness of the impact of Pennsylvania’s community colleges, it’s all thanks to teamwork and collaboration. We’re honored that each of these projects have earned recognition by our peers in the public relations field.”

Overall Public Relations Program Category – Municipalities in the northwest portion of Lancaster County were at a crossroads with local emergency medical services at risk. Northwest EMS, a non-profit agency that provides basic and advanced life support in the region, was in a state of crisis. Like so many EMS agencies in Pennsylvania and across the country, the agency was facing insolvency due to insufficient revenue and rising costs. A committee of municipal leaders resolved to pursue a bold solution and engaged PRworks to lead a public relations program to achieve success. Over a period of several months, the project involved public meetings, public education initiatives and a public hearing on the proposed authority. On February 7, 2023, the new Municipal Emergency Services Authority of Lancaster County was incorporated by six founding municipalities, becoming the first rate-setting municipal emergency services authority in Pennsylvania.

Corporate Branding Category – Women’s Resources of Monroe County, a non-profit sexual assault crisis center and domestic violence shelter, had been struggling with its brand identity for many years – mainly because its name did not reflect what the organization does and everyone it serves. Women’s Resources of Monroe County engaged PRworks to provide counsel and lead a branding process to remedy the organization’s concerns. The process – which involved a review of the identities of over 100 other domestic violence and sexual abuse centers in Pennsylvania; name exploration; logo design; and touchpoints to obtain additional stakeholder feedback along the way – led to a decision by the board and leadership of Women’s Resource of Monroe County to rebrand the organization as Safe Monroe with the tagline “Where Abuse Ends and Hope Begins.”

Special Events Category – The Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges, a nonprofit association and the primary advocate for Pennsylvania’s 15 community colleges, sought to raise awareness among policymakers of the colleges’ impact and the need for more state investment. PRworks collaborated with the commission to plan a strategic communications initiative with the centerpiece being a special event at the Pennsylvania State Capitol on Community College Day, April 24, 2023. The event raised awareness among state policymakers and earned statewide media attention on the impact of the colleges and the need for more state funding.

Public relations professionals affiliated with the New Mexico chapter of the Public Relations Society of America evaluated entries for the Central Pennsylvania chapter’s Keystone Awards. PRSA is the nation’s largest professional organization serving the communications community with a mission to “make communications professionals smarter, better prepared and more connected through all stages of their career.”

PRworks, founded in 2001, provides a full range of public relations and marketing services including research, branding and creative, content marketing, digital marketing, websites, media relations, and issues and crisis counsel. Emphasizing a strategic approach and the core value of collaboration, the firm’s mission is to bring about positive outcomes for clients and those they serve by providing services grounded in strategy and with the highest integrity. For more information about PRworks, visit PRworksinc.com.