Mercury Awards

Celebrating SCPRSA’s 30th Annual Mercury Awards (1991-2021)

NOTE: MERCURY AWARDS DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO FRIDAY, FEB. 26, 2021, AT 5 P.M.

SCPRSA and Mercury Awards chair, Catherine Ramirez, invite South Carolina-based public relations professionals to submit their best work from 2020 for consideration in the Mercury Awards competition. The deadline to submit entries for both Mercury Awards and Silver Wing Awards is Friday, Feb. 26, 2021, at 5 p.m.

Before you enter information into our competition platform, OpenWater, review the Call For Entries. It includes awards categories, criteria the judges will be looking for and helpful information for how to enter the competition.

Review or download the Call For Entries

Click here to enter the competition through OpenWater.

Click here to watch a demonstration of the OpenWater platform, led Kelly Davis, APR, Fellow PRSA, former SCPRSA judging chair. Fast forward the video to the 11:00 mark to learn more about how to navigate OpenWater to enter your work.

Individual Awards:

NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR INDIVIDUAL AWARD NOMINATIONS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2021, AT 5 P.M.
If you'd like to nominate someone for an individual award, review the Call for Nominations. Nominations for individual awards are not submitted through OpenWater. Nominations should be submitted via email to Ashley M. Dusenbury, APR, SCPRSA judging chair, at [email protected]

Review or download the Call for Nominations for Individual Awards

Watch a session on how to write an award-winning Mercury Awards entry on the SCPRSA Facebook page (post date: 1/26/21)

Winning an award depends on a strong entry. As you get ready to enter the Mercury Awards, set yourself up for success with the ingredients of a winning entry. On Jan. 26, 2021, Ashley Dusenbury, APR, Mercury Awards judging chair, led a conversation with practitioners across the state who have entered the competition many times and won multiple awards: Kaytee Watson, Dominion Energy South Carolina; Chris Hauff, Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum; and Emily Moseley, Crawford Strategy. They shared tips and offered guidance that will help you prepare and get you ready to win!

Virtual Mercury Awards: April 29, 2021
Mercury, Silver Wing and Individual Award winners will be recognized at the annual Mercury Awards on April 29, 2021. Due to continued COVID-19 concerns, the awards will be virtual again in 2021. Stay tuned for details at SCPRSA.org and on SCPRSA social
media channels.

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Last year's Mercury Awards at a glance...

Best In Show

Prisma Health Midlands Foundation won the Best in Show Mercury Award winner for “30^th Festival of Trees.”

Flock and Rally won the Best in Show Silver Wing Award for “Richland Library Friends and Foundation Buyer Persona Research.”

Individual Award Winners

Keller Kissam, president of electric operations at Dominion Energy, was named winner of the Executive Excellence award.

Bianca Crawford Shelton, an instructor in mass communications at Claflin University, was named Educator of the Year.

Katie Beliles, integrated marketing coordinator at Infinity Marketing, was named Rookie of the Year.

Victoria Canada, a senior public relations major at the University of South Carolina, was named Public Relations Student of the Year.

For the full list of winners, download this year’s winners’ booklet.

Congratulations to all of our winners!

Thank you to our sponsor, Central Carolina Community Foundation.