The School of Management and the School of Public Health and Health Professions won top awards, and two UB communications professionals were also recognized with special awards at the 30th Excalibur Awards, the annual event presented by the Public Relations Society of America’s Buffalo Niagara chapter to recognize the best of the best in public relations in the Buffalo Niagara region.

The School of Management’s “Buffalo Business Magazine,” submitted by Jacqueline Ghosen, assistant dean and director of communications, and Kevin Manne and Matthew Biddle, both assistant directors of communications, took one of the two top awards at the competition: the platinum “Best of Show” award in the tactics division.

The Best of Show awards are selected from the top entries — gold honorees — in the Excalibur competition and are the highest honors in each of the contest's two divisions: tactics and campaigns.

“Buffalo Business” also received a bronze Excalibur commendation from judges at PRSA national, who called the magazine “a textbook example of how to plan, execute and evaluate communications.”

The School of Management team of Ghosen, Manne and Biddle won several other awards:

• A gold award in the special events and observances category for “Inclusive Leadership in a Time of Divisiveness: A Pop-Up Event,” in collaboration with Cynthia Shore, senior assistant dean for alumni engagement and external affairs, and Molly Anderson, executive director of the Center for Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness, both in the School of Management.
• A gold award in the published article category for Biddle’s article “Time’s Up,” the cover story in the spring 2019 issue of “Buffalo Business” that examines how organizations and business schools are changing in the “#MeToo” era.
  
• A gold award in the promotional materials and publications category for “Showcasing our Strategic Impact — not your father’s Dean’s Report.”
• A silver award in the online communications category for “Spreading holiday cheer — and showcasing our global impact,” the school’s holiday video.

The School of Public Health and Health Professions’ team of Jackie Hausler, director of communications and alumni engagement, and Caryn Sobieski-Vandelinder, web and graphic designer, took gold awards in the special events and observances category for the “University at Buffalo Step Challenge,” and in the promotional materials and publications category for the “Undergraduate Recruitment Brochure.”

The school’s direct mail/direct response piece, “When the College Ranking Game Changed: University at Buffalo’s School of Public Health Steps Up to the Plate,” prepared in collaboration with Grace Lazzara, special assistant to the dean for external affairs; Green Soup Designwerks; and the Zenger Group, also won a gold award.

As part of the awards ceremony held last month, Manne received the Board of Directors’ Distinguished Service Award, and Grace Gerass, content developer in the Office of Donor and Alumni Communications, received the chapter’s Ann R. Carden Rising Star Award.