WKYC TV's Brooke Spectorsky & Micki Byrnes Win Communications Award

CLEVELAND – The Public Relations Society of America, Greater Cleveland Chapter, is awarding WKYC-TV’s Brooke Spectorsky and Micki Byrnes the 2011 John W. Hill Award for outstanding leadership for internal and external communications by chief executives. The honor will be presented on March 16 at PRSA’s Hill Lighthouse Young Awards ceremony.

The award is the highest honor an organization’s leader can receive for communication practices. Spectorsky, Senior VP Gannett Broadcasting, and Byrnes, VP Advertising and Promotions, are the first couple to win the honor in the history of the Hill Award for Cleveland PRSA.

Brooke and Micki will be recognized for exceptional strategic communications outreach initiatives including:

• WKYC’s leadership role in emerging content delivery platforms, including broadcast, web, social media and mobile. As a result of their work, WKYC, one of 22 Gannett-owned television stations, is considered a leader in emerging platforms for the corporation’s broadcast division.
• WKYC’s community leadership through both the creation and marketing of various events and projects; such as Heroes Help Northeast Ohio, an annual program that kicks off the holiday giving season by collecting food, coats and toys for the Cleveland Foodbank, Coats for Kids and the Salvation Army.
• The campaign culminating in the return of the Cleveland Browns in 1999; WKYC ultimately became the official station of the Browns.
• A unique production partnership with the Cleveland Indians and SportsTime Ohio (STO), a regional sports network. Brooke created a unit that produces all Indians home and away games, and was instrumental in making twenty Indians games available on free television, accessible to everyone.

“None of these initiatives would be possible without the incredible talents of the WKYC staff,” said Spectorsky. “The television industry has been through incredible economic and technological challenges, and they have risen to meet each and every one like no other TV station can.”

“We take very seriously our power to advocate for the community to catalyze positive change,” said Byrnes. “Our goal is a simple one: make the community in which we live as vibrant and successful as possible.”

Previous John W. Hill Award recipients include Dr. Jerry Sue Thornton, Cuyahoga Community College; Malachi Mixon, Invacare; Jim Biggar, Nestle Enterprises; and Alex Machaskee, The Plain Dealer.