Treasure Coast Public Relations Chapter

Honors Area Communicators

The Treasure Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Assn. has honored four Treasure Coast communicators for their outstanding work in promoting businesses, non-profit organizations and government.

The recipients were recognized at the annual Image Awards program in April at the Indian River Community College Schreiber Conference Center in St. Lucie West.

Since 2000, the Treasure Coast FPRA chapter has presented the Communicator of the Year Awards in the Non-Profit, For-Profit, Special Events and Crisis Communications categories.They recognize public relations professionals handling media relations, community relations, public information, special events, and crisis communications.

Chapter President Adrienne Moore, APR, CPRC, presented the 2008 Communicator of the Year plaques to: Beverly Paris of Paris Productions in Vero Beach in the For-Profit category; Melanie Forget, APR, CPRC, Director of Development at IRCC Foundation in Fort Pierce in the Special Events category; The Communications Team of the Martin County Library System, which includes Judi Snyder, Susan Opasik, George Seaman and the late Phil Kavanaugh, in the Non-Profit category; and Officer Robert Vega, Public Information Officer with the Port St. Lucie Police Dept. in the Crisis Communications category.

Paris, a member of the Treasure Coast chapter, was recognized for her work with area businesses and non-profit organizations.She was described in her nomination as the "Go-to person" in Indian River County, who specializes in media relations and special events.

Forget coordinates all fundraising programs for the IRCC Foundation. In particular, she is responsible for the annual Dan K. Richardson Entrepreneur of the Year program which recognizes area businesses for their dedication to the free enterprise system.

The Communications Team of the Martin County Library System was honored for the many programs provided through the county library system, promoting the programs through media and on the library website.While the staff members are stationed at the Blake Library in Stuart, they handle programs for all libraries in the system.

Officer Rob Vega of the Port St. Lucie Police Department has been busy during the last two years providing media and the community with up-to-date information on arrests, drug raids, contraband seized and other details of the "grow house" problems in Port St. Lucie. He also had to deal with the city's image related to these arrests. Vega, who could not attend the meeting, was presented the 2008 Communicator of the Year Award for Crisis Communications by Port St. Lucie Police Chief John Skinner.

The Treasure Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association consists of public relations professionals in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties.The chapter has 70 members and will be celebrating its 25 th anniversary in June 2009.