The Office of University Communications and the School of Management were recognized for excellence by the Public Relations Society of America Buffalo Niagara chapter during the organization’s 2015 Excalibur Awards Program, held on June 18 in Buffalo.

Judging for the awards was performed by public relations professionals from the PRSA Dallas chapter.

Awards received by University Communications included Outstanding Practitioner, presented to John DellaContrada, associate vice president for media relations and stakeholder communications.

In the competition’s media relations category, University Communications earned a Gold Excalibur Award for the entry “Multimedia News Releases Grab Attention and Eyeballs.” University Communications also earned a Bronze Excalibur Award for “Goin’ to the Big Dance: Special Section of the UB Reporter.”  The two awards recognized the work of Charlotte Hsu, Douglas Levere, Marcene Robinson, Cory Nealon, Christine Vidal, Ellen Goldbaum, Bert Gambini, Charles Anzalone, Sue Wuetcher and Kristen Kowalski.

Awards presented to the School of Management included Gold Excalibur Awards for the news release “Who is More Narcissistic: Men or Women?” and for “Buffalo Business Magazine.” The school received a Silver Excalibur, for “Launching Leadership 2.0” and two Bronze Excalibur Awards for the articles “Food Truckin’ Up to Buffalo” and “Hacked: Financial Information Security in the Digital Age.”  The awards recognized the work of Jacqueline Ghosen, Kevin Manne, Matthew Biddle and Sarah Gilson.

Barb Byers, from the Office of Development and Alumni Communications, received a Gold Excalibur Award for “All Aboard the APR Express,”  a chapter workshop to promote the value of Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).