Devaney & Associates received four awards from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Maryland Chapter at the 2020 Best in Maryland award celebration held on December 10. The virtual gala and awards show featured Maryland’s finest public relations and communications professionals and awarded 47 Best in Maryland (BIM) awards in 26 different categories, including a new COVID-19 category, and five esteemed honors in the professional awards category.
Best in Maryland: Tuerk House 2018-2019 Annual Report
Devaney & Associates and Tuerk House received the Best in Maryland honor in the Annual Report category for the 2018-19 Tuerk House Annual Report. As Baltimore’s pioneering leader in addiction treatment, Tuerk House sought to reinvent its aging campus into a state-of-the-art addiction treatment center but needed the help of donors to make the project a reality.
Devaney & Associates helped create a compelling annual report that would tell their fundraising story and inspire donors to support their life-saving work. Working together, they researched and gathered powerful stories of hope that happened inside Tuerk House’s walls within the past two years—showcasing the incredible patients, staff, and leadership.
Issued in September 2019, the annual report helped Tuerk House usher in a new era of fundraising to support its mission. To date, the organization has evolved from $0 in fundraising support to securing more than $2.5 million in grants and donations towards the next phase of its capital improvement project. View The Triumph of Hope 2018/19 Tuerk House Annual Report here.
Award of Excellence: “Designed by Moms” Family Birthplace Campaign
In the Integrated Communications category, Devaney & Associates and Carroll Hospital were given an Award of Excellence for the “Designed by Moms” Family Birthplace Campaign. In 2019, Carroll Hospital unveiled its all-new Family Birthplace, making it the second hospital in the nation to offer Neonatal Couplet Care Suites—a unique approach that allows moms to room with babies who are born prematurely or require specialized care, even after the mother is discharged. While this was an incredible advancement for the hospital and its community, many moms still did not view Carroll Hospital in the same light as bigger institutions.
Working with Team D&A, Carroll Hospital wanted to change the public’s perception of their level of care, while promoting the new and improved Family Birthplace and Neonatal Care services to expecting and future moms. Most importantly—they wanted to highlight the fact that the reimagined Family Birthplace was built by moms for moms, showing that the hospital used the input of real-life mothers to fuel the expansion.
Using mom-approved messaging and images, D&A created a marketing plan that included:
- Programmatic digital advertising (display, mobile, and audio) and social media advertising to target prospective moms with extreme precision
- Search engine marketing to reach women who were researching competitive hospitals
- Print, billboard, and movie advertising to announce the expansion community-wide
- Email marketing to prospective moms and referral sources, like OB/GYNs
- Event sponsorships to reach expectant moms at family-friendly events
The results? Increased consumer confidence and an impressive pre-term birth percentage increase from 5.6% of all hospital births in 2018 to 9.5% of all births in 2019. See all that the Family Birthplace at Carroll Hospital has to offer.
Award of Excellence: Ingenuity Project Media Relations Campaign
Devaney & Associates and Ingenuity Project—a nonprofit overseeing an elite math and science curriculum for advanced middle and high school students in Baltimore City’s public schools—were recognized In the Media Relations Campaign for Non-Profit Associations category.
D&A set out to create a strategic media relations plan for Ingenuity Project that would secure publicity in print, broadcast and online outlets in the Baltimore area. The campaign would rely on press releases, pitch letters, and phone calls to communicate creative story angles promoting:
- The Ingenuity Project as the elite program in Baltimore City Public Schools that prepares students for college and STEM careers.
- The organization’s latest news and developments, including its expansion into James McHenry Middle School for the 2019/2020 school year.
- The excellence of The Ingenuity Project’s math and science curriculum executed by its highly experienced teachers.
- The successes achieved by both current and past Ingenuity Project students.
Between August 2019 and March 2020, the Ingenuity Project media relations campaign netted more than 10 featured placements in greater Baltimore media, including print, online, broadcast television, and radio outlets. These features not only highlighted the incredible accomplishments of the students, but the quality of the program and the exceptional opportunities offered to the students to connect with STEM leaders in their community. Learn more about the organization’s efforts here.
Award of Excellence: Project Sanctuary Comes to Maryland
The final Award of Excellence recognized Devaney & Associates’ work with Project Sanctuary in the category of Events/Celebrations, Fewer Than 7 Days. Project Sanctuary is a nonprofit organization providing therapeutic retreats and follow-up services to help military families heal and reconnect following deployment. The Colorado-based organization contacted Devaney & Associates to help them promote their first Maryland retreat, held at the Pearlstone Center in Reisterstown, MD.
The D&A PR team immediately began to research the history, mission, participants, and retreat background of Project Sanctuary, as well as the best media outlets to cover the event. Focusing on research and statistics regarding how military service impacts families, D&A created pitches that highlighted the benefits and activities of the retreat, as well as family stories that spoke to Project Sanctuary’s mission. The goal was to secure one print and one broadcast feature story in order to share the amazing work of the nonprofit.
After making some worthwhile connections and coordinating media opportunities, the Project Sanctuary retreat was featured in the following media outlets:
- The front page of the Washington Post Metro section – reaching 88.8 million unique visitors nationwide online
- An article in the September 2019 edition of At Ease Magazine – with a distribution of 100,000
- A feature on WMAR-TV’s 5pm, 6pm and 11pm broadcasts and WBAL-TV’s 6pm and 11pm broadcasts – reaching a combined total of 92,400 daily viewers
Visit the Project Sanctuary website to learn more.
