News Release: For Second Straight Year, MCC Presented with Three Top Awards for Excellence in Public Relations

(Lansing, Mich.) — The Central Michigan Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (CMPRSA) has recognized Michigan Catholic Conference (MCC) for the second year in a row by honoring the organization with three top awards for excellence in public relations and communication.

During the 2019 PACE Awards, which took place last Thursday, April 18, CMPRSA presented MCC a first-place Pinnacle Award in the Speeches category and two second-place Excellence Awards in the category of Newsletters and Guest Columns/Op-Eds. The PACE Awards celebration annually honors mid-Michigan corporations, non-profit organizations, and creative agencies for communication tactics and campaigns completed during the 2018 calendar year. Last year, MCC was presented with three first-place Pinnacle Awards and a second-place Excellence Award.

“We’re grateful to the national judges for recognizing this organization’s efforts to promote the common good in Michigan, particularly in the policy areas of juvenile justice reform, interfaith religious liberty efforts, and the creation of strong communities and families,” said David Maluchnik, MCC Vice President for Communications. “CMPRSA, those who worked to assemble the PACE Awards ceremony, and the many fine and talented agencies that participated in this year’s annual event equally deserve applause and recognition.”

The awards presented to MCC at last week’s ceremony included:

Speeches: First Place Pinnacle Award

CMPRSA granted MCC the Pinnacle Award, its highest honor for excellence in public relations. This award recognized comments delivered by MCC staff at an October 25th press conference at Monroe Community College in opposition to a statewide ballot proposal seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. Although the ballot question passed, thereby legalizing marijuana in Michigan, MCC fought the question as a member of a broad coalition that included leaders in the fields of law enforcement, medicine, law, education and health care.

FOCUS Publication: Excellence Award

A collection of three FOCUS publications won a second-place Excellence Award. FOCUS highlights public policy issues through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching. MCC distributes the publication to state government officials, elected officials, statewide media outlets, and Catholic parishes and schools. Those three publications included the topics:

• Promoting Religious Freedom Through Interfaith Dialogue
• Vaccinations and the Common Good
• Proposal 1: Say No to Recreational Marijuana

Op/Ed: Excellence Award

CMPRSA also awarded a second-place Excellence Award to MCC for its op/ed column Justice System Should Not Treat Kids as Adults. This column ran in The Detroit News on July 23, 2018. The piece articulated how policy change is necessary in Michigan to reclassify seventeen-year-olds as minors within the state’s criminal justice system. The op/ed augmented MCC’s lobbying efforts in support of a bipartisan legislation to “Raise the Age” in Michigan when sentencing youth for adult-related crimes. The bill package currently awaits consideration from the Michigan Senate and House of Representatives.

CMPRSA PACE Awards are mid-Michigan's highest honor of public relations activities, awarding exemplary professional skill, creativity, and resourcefulness in communication tactics or campaigns. More than 300 non-profit organizations, corporations, and public and private agencies in Clinton, Eaton, Genesee, Gratiot, Ingham, Jackson, Livingston, and Shiawassee counties have been recognized over the past two decades. Submissions are judged by a national PRSA chapter based on quality of research, planning, execution, and evaluation.

Michigan Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic Church in this state.

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