On October 09, 2007, Time Warner Inc. announced the recipients of the first “Principals of Excellence Awards.” The awards honor commendable principles that demonstrate leadership in New York City public schools. Each award includes a $20,000 grant for the school, and a $5,000 reward to be given directly to the principal. Principals are nominated for the awards by either their peers or by members of the school community. A panel chaired by Time Warner Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons selects 5 principals to receive the award out of a group of finalists. The panel judges the principals on a number of criteria such as the principal’s leadership, his or her community-building efforts, the school’s academic achievements, and the opportunities the principal’s efforts have created for the students.
Time Warner announced the creation of the awards in May, as part of its commitment to help strengthen leadership within public schools. I think the development of the “Principals of Excellence” awards and the promotion of the awards was a successful attempt of the public relations department to make the public aware of Time Warner’s corporate responsibility. Time Warner has had a longstanding involvement with New York City public schools and the creation of these awards is an excellent way for the company to share this involvement with the public, employees, and company stakeholders. I think the public relations department must have played a role in the creation of the awards and has done a good job promoting the awards. Time Warner announced both the creation of the awards in May and the announcement of the winners of the awards in press releases that were posted on the company website and on other news websites. Click here to take a look at the press release announcing the winners: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,1669445,00.html. The company also posted an article describing the “Principals of Excellence” awards and what qualifies a principal to receive the award under the community section of the company Web site. You can check out this article here:
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/principals_awards/index.html. After the panel selected the winners the company posted another article under the same section on the Web site that gives a brief biography of each of the winners. To read up on the winners check out his article here: http://www.timewarner.com/corp/citizenship/community/principals_awards/recipients/index.html.
I think the public relations department did a good job and using the press releases as a way to also share information about the company and what it stands for. I also thought it was a good public relations decision to include quotes from the CEO Dick Parsons in the press releases because it proves he is actively involved in the selection process. In addition to the press releases, the company has organized a special reception and dinner ceremony at Time Warner’s headquarters at Columbus Circle on October 10, 2007 to present the winners with the awards. I think honoring the winners at a reception is an excellent way to increase awareness of the company’s corporate responsibility. I think the public relations department should send pitch letters to the media including television stations, radio, and newspapers so the event will receive news coverage. This would be an excellent way of reaching a mass audience and informing them about the involvement of the company in New York City public schools. I think the company did a good job at promoting the creation of the awards and announcement of the winners. It is very important that the company continues this good work in their effort to promote the reception.
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