PRIDE Awards

The PRIDE awards are given by the PR Division of the National Communication Association, which is comprised primarily of faculty in the area of communication. Winners have proven to be some of the seminal works in the field.

The awards date back to at least 1989 and are designed to recognize achievement in public relations research. The number of categories has varied over the years, but some version of the best book/monograph and best research article have existed since the start. Some years include a best PR textbook category.

The winners are determined by a committee of three NCA PR Division members. Two are elected at the business meeting the preceding year. The third member, and chair, is the immediate past chair of the division. The committee automatically reviews all articles in Public Relations Review and Journal of Public Relations Journal, but accepts nominations from other journals.

See information about PRIDE Awards procedures.

2008 Awards:

Best Book : Hansen-Horn, T.L., & Neff, B. (2007). Public relations from theory to practice. Boston, Allyn & Bacon.

Best Textbook: no award

Best Article: Oyvind, I. (2007). Building on Bourdieu: A sociological grasp of public relations. Public Relations Review, 33(3), pp. 269-274.

2007 Awards:

Best Book : McKie, D & Munshi, D. (2006). Reconfiguring Public Relations: Ecology, Equity, and Enterprise. Routledge.

Best Textbook: Coombs, W.T. & Holladay, S. (2007). It’s not just PR. Malden, MA: Blackwell

Best Article: Palenchar, M. & Fitzpatrick, K. (2006). Disclosing Special Interest: Constitutional Restrictions on Front Groups. Journal of Public Relations Research, 18(3). 203-224.

Lifetime achievement award: Robert Heath.

2006 Awards:

Best Book: Botan, C., & Hazelton, V. (Eds.) (2006). Public relations theory II. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Best Textbook: Heath, R., & Coombs, T. (2006). Today’s public relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Best Article: Heath, R. (2006) Onward into more fog: Thoughts on public relations’ research directions. Journal of Public Relations Research, (18) 2, 93-114

2005 Awards:

Best Book: Enclyclopedia of Public Relations Volumes I and II Robert L. Heath, Editor Sage Publications, Inc.

Best Journal Article: Tie:

Category I: All Round
Donnalyn Pompper - "Difference" in Public Relations Research: A Case for Introducing Critical Race Theory Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol 17, (3): 139 - 169

Category II: International Public Relations Scholarship:
Mohan J. Dutta-Bergman - Civil Society and Public Relations: Not So Civil AFter All Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 17 (3): 267- 289

2004 Awards:

Best Book: Millar, Dan, & Heath, Robert (Eds.) (2004) Responding to crisis: A rhetorical approach to crisis communication. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Best Journal Article: Leichty, Greg (2003) “The cultural tribes of public relations,” Journal of Public Relations Research, 15 (4), 277-304.

Before 2004:

(many thanks to Chuck Lubbers for providing this information)
Best Book/Monograph in Public Relations - NCA Public Relations Division
2002 - Larissa A. Grunig, James E. Grunig & David M. Dozier, Excellent Public Relations and Effective Organizations (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates)
2001 - Robert L. Heath, Handbook of Public Relations (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage)
2000 - W. Timothy Coombs, Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Management and Responding. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage)
1999 - Karen S. Miller, The Voice of Business: Hill and Knowlton and Postwar Public Relations. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press)
1998 - Judith Hoover
1997 - Robert L. Heath, Strategic Issues Management (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage)
1996 - William Elwood (Ed.), Public Relations Inquiry as Rhetorical Criticism. Case Studies of Corporate Discourse and Social Influence. (Praeger)
1995 - No book recipient

Best Text Award -- NCA Public Relations Division
2002 - Don W. Stacks, Primer of Public Relations Research (New York: Guildford Press).

Best Article in Public Relations Scholarship - NCA Public Relations Division
2002 - W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay, An Extended Examination of the Crisis Situations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 13(4) 341-340 (2001) 2001 - Yi-Hui Huang, OPRA: A cross-cultural, multiple item scale for measuring organization-public relationships. Journal of Public Relations Research, 13(1), 61-90 (2001).
2000 - Robert L. Heath and Michael Palenchar. Community Relations and Risk Communication: A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Emergency Response Messages. Journal of Public Relations Research, 12(3), 131 (2000).
1999 - Stephen D. Bruning and John A. Ledingham, Relationships Between Organizations and Publics: Development of a Multi-Dimensional Organization-Public Relationship Scale," Public Relations Review, 25(2), 157-170. (1999).
1998 - Lisa Tyler
1997 -- Glen M. Broom, Shawna Casey and James Ritchey. Toward a Concept and Theory of Organization-Public Relationships, Journal of Public Relations Research, 9(2), 83-98 (1997).
1996 - Keith Michael Hearit. The use of Counter Attack in Apologetic Public Relations Crises: The Case of General Motors vs. Dateline NBC, Public Relations Review, 22(3), 233-248 (1996)
1995 - Robert Heath, Shu-Huei Liao and William Douglas, Effectives of Perceived Economic Harms and Benefits on Issue Involvement, Use of Information Sources and Actions: Study in Risk Communication, Journal of Public Relations Research, 7(2), 89-110 (1995).

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