NCRF’s efforts to commemorate National Purple Heart Day by hosting a Veterans History Project event during the 2016 NCRA Convention & Expo held in Chicago, Ill., last August have earned top honors in the Golden Image Awards sponsored by the Florida Public Relations Association’s (FPRA) Capital Chapter.
The NCRF Purple Heart event recently earned an Image Award, a Judges Award, and a Grand Image Award, which is the highest award given, in the category of Printed Tools of Public Relations-News Release. NCRA’s external public relations firm BowStern, which is based in Tallahassee, Fla., nominated NCRA’s effort for the award.
The Purple Heart event, which was sponsored in part by AristoCat, captured the stories of eight Purple Heart recipients from Chicago and the surrounding area for preservation at the Library of Congress as part of the Veterans History Project collection. The event also drew significant media coverage, including:
- Chicago Sun Times — Purple Heart Day celebration immortalizes war veterans stories
- Chicago CBS local — Purple Heart Veterans share stories for Library of Congress
- WGN TV— Purple Heart vets share stories for Library of Congress
- ABC 7 Chicago — Local veterans share their war stories for Library of Congress project
- Chicago Tribune — Purple Heart recipients tell of sacrifice: ‘They shed blood for their country’
- AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) — Purple Heart recipients tell of sacrifices
- Post Star (N.Y.) — Purple Heart recipients tell of sacrifice they shed blood for
- Bend, Ore., Bulletin — Purple Heart recipients tell of sacrifice
More recently, the NCRF Purple Heart effort was showcased in the December 2016 issue of Convene magazine as well as in a May article that appeared in Associations Now.
NCRF has been invited to host a Veterans History Project event at the Military Order of the Purple Heart’s annual convention taking place in mid-August in Dallas, Texas.
For more information about NCRF’s Oral History Program, visit NCRA.org/NCRF.
