Join PRSA Memphis for "Winning Streak: Secrets to Award-Worthy Submissions" and learn how to make your work stand out for awards like PRSA Anvil Awards or VOX. This session will offer expert insights from seasoned PR professionals, reveal key elements judges seek in winning submissions, and provide practical tips for structuring entries. With an interactive Q&A segment, you'll get answers to your specific challenges. Elevate your submission game and boost your chances of winning. Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your skills and get your work recognized.

Speakers: Kim Marks Malone, APR, Fellow PRSA (PRSA President, University of Memphis) and Elizabeth Wittington, APR, MBA (St. Jude Children's Research Hospital) 

Kim Marks Malone is an award-winning accredited public relations professional, a retired Navy Public Affairs officer, and an Associate Professor of Practice in Public Relations at the University of Memphis. She is the faculty adviser for Meeman 901 Strategies, a student-run strategic communication firm, and the PRSSA Chapter at the University of Memphis.

When she's not teaching, Kim helps small businesses and nonprofits engage with their customers and tell their stories as an independent consultant. Her specialties include social media management, digital analytics, media relations, crisis communication, issues management, and organizational communication. She is also an executive public relations consultant for VoxOptima, a woman and service-disabled veteran-owned communications, consulting, and media relations company, where she provides executive brand and media training services to clients worldwide.

Kim is a member of the PRSA College of Fellows, a designation recognizing her contributions to the profession and a co-author of the book Public Relations in the Military: The Scope, Dynamic, and Future of Military Communications.

Elizabeth Whittington, MBA, APR, is the senior director of executive communications for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Prior to her current role, she led a successful team in digital communications at St. Jude. She began her career as a journalist for CURE magazine, a national publication for cancer patients and their caregivers. Elizabeth was responsible for the digital strategy for CURE Media Group.

She has a B.S. in biology from Mississippi University for Women and her MBA from Christian Brothers University. In 2012, she received a fellowship to Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Disease Prevention in Bethesda, Maryland. She earned a Silver Anvil for work on a clinical trial recruiting campaign for X-linked SCID and a Bronze Anvil for her work in executive communications. She earned her accreditation in public relations in 2021.

She mentors early- and mid-career professionals in public relations and science communications, is a member of the National Association of Science Writers, and is the president-elect for the Public Relations Society of America Memphis Chapter.