MHP/Team SI and Keep Arkansas Beautiful (KAB) received an Award of Excellence at the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) 2022 Silver Anvil Awards, the most prestigious PR award at the national level. On May 17, the nation’s best public relations practitioners gathered at the Edison Ballroom in New York, NY to celebrate their achievements and success throughout this past year.
MHP/Team SI and its client, KAB, were awarded in the category of Content Marketing for Associations/Government/Nonprofit Organizations for its Otto the Otter Youth Education campaign. This is the agency’s third Silver Anvil Award of Excellence and the second consecutive year to attend the ceremony.
“As our agency celebrates 50 years of innovation, we are proud to receive this prestigious recognition from PRSA with our longtime partners and friends at KAB,” said Kristen Vandaveer Nicholson, APR, vice president of public relations at MHP/Team SI. “Our vice president of client services, Julie C. Robbins, has been fundamental in forming such a strong partnership with KAB, serving as the lead account supervisor since 2003. As we look towards the future, our team is proud to continue to provide our clients with the most innovative ideas and strategies that achieve award-winning results.”
To help teach kids about the dangers of litter to the environment, KAB collaborated with MHP/Team SI to develop the Otto the Otter’s Youth Education Program and accompanying multichannel communications plan that included organic and paid social media, e-newsletters, earned media and a website landing page. As part of the campaign, KAB commissioned an Arkansas-based illustrator to write and illustrate “Otto the Otter and the Great Arkansas Mystery,” a 40-page children’s book that is available as a hardback book and online e-book. Since the start of the campaign, more than 5,000 children’s books have been distributed to third-grade teachers statewide at 519 schools, and more than 35,000 students received a workbook, providing teachers and students an opportunity for continued litter education.
“This recognition is further proof of the great partnership MHP/Team SI and KAB has established throughout the years,” said Colbie Jones, executive director of KAB. ”As the state’s largest entity working to encourage litter prevention, recycling and beautification efforts, we are thankful to have such a great partner in MHP/Team SI to help us encourage Arkansans to do their part and keep our state a beautiful place to work and visit.”
The 2022 PRSA Silver Anvil Award ceremony included more than 151 finalists in 20 categories and other additional subcategories. PRSA is the nation’s largest professional organization for the communication industry and has a membership of nearly 30,000 professionals across the United States.
