The Canadian Public Relations Society Inc. (CPRS) is pleased to announce that 17 public relations professionals from across Canada successfully completed the requirements for becoming accredited Members of CPRS in 2007. This brings the total number of accredited Members to 487, representing 27% of the CPRS Membership. 

“The APR is the highest global professional standard of excellence in public relations,” said the National Accreditation Council’s presiding officer Sharlene Smith, APR, FCPRS. “Employers and clients hiring public relations practitioners with an APR are getting leaders in public relations that are recognized in and outside of the profession for their knowledge, experience, expertise and ethics.”

Public relations professionals who received their APR in 2007 are:

• Marc Angers APR - Bathurst, NB


• Catherine Bianco APR - Dundas, ON


• Mark Buzan APR - Gatineau, ON


• Caroline Émond APR - Montréal, QC


• Vanessa Greebe APR- Victoria, BC


• Fran Gregory APR- Kitchener, ON


• Gregory Harris APR- Winnipeg, MB


• Julia Harvie-Shemko APR - Red Deer, AB


• Sharon Hawrelak APR - Edmonton, AB


• Nadia Hinds APR - Halifax, NS


• Melinda Jolley APR - Victoria, BC


• Louis Moubarak APR - Montréal, QC


• Ian Ross APR - Toronto, ON


• François Taschereau APR - Montréal, QC


• Isabelle Thellen APR - Montréal, QC


• Richard Truscott APR - Calgary, AB


• Léa Werthman APR - Ottawa, ON 

To become accredited and earn the Accredited Public Relations (APR) designation, a candidate must engage in specialized studies, pass rigorous written and oral examinations, and submit a detailed work sample. To even qualify to take the CPRS accreditation examination, a candidate must have earned a solid reputation of integrity and high ethical standards while completing a minimum of five years of full-time employment in the field of public relations.

The Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) is the only Canadian professional association representing more than 1,700 public relations practitioners in 16 Member Societies across Canada who commit to following a Code of Professional Standards. The Society offers a program of professional accreditation in public relations (APR), professional development and education programs affiliated with various colleges and universities, a job registry, networking opportunities, annual National Conference, a directory of all Members and a forum for information sharing.

For more information contact Karen Dalton, APR, Executive Director, CPRS at 416-239-7034 or kdalton@cprs.ca. 

La Société canadienne des Relations publiques Inc. (SCRP) a le plaisir d’annoncer que 17 professionnels des relations publiques de partout au Canada ont réussi à remplir les exigences en vue de devenir membres agrégés de la SCRP en 2007. Le nombre de membres agréés de la SCRP atteint maintenant 487, soit environ 27 pour cent des membres de la SCRP.

Le titre ARP est l’étalon or de l’excellence professionnelle en relations publiques, affirme Sharlene Smith, ARP, FSCRP, présidente du Conseil national sur l’agrément. Les employeurs et les clients qui engagent des relationnistes agréés ARP obtiennent les services de chefs de file en relations publiques, reconnus pour leurs connaissances, leur expérience, leur expertise et leur éthique au sein de la profession comme à l’extérieur.

Les professionnels des relations publiques qui ont reçu le titre d’ARP en 2007 sont : 

• Marc Angers ARP – Bathurst, NB
• Catherine Bianco ARP – Dundas, ON
• Mark Buzan ARP – Gatineau, ON
• Caroline Émond ARP – Montréal, QC
• Vanessa Greebe ARP – Victoria, BC
• Fran Gregory ARP – Kitchener, ON
• Gregory Harris ARP – Winnipeg, MB
• Julia Harvie-Shemko ARP – Red Deer, AB
• Sharon Hawrelak ARP – Edmonton, AB
• Nadia Hinds ARP – Halifax, NS
• Melinda Jolley ARP – Victoria, BC
• Louis Moubarak ARP – Montréal, QC
• Ian Ross ARP – Toronto, ON
• François Taschereau ARP – Montréal, QC
• Isabelle Thellen ARP – Montréal, QC
• Richard Truscott ARP – Calgary, AB
• Léa Werthman ARP – Ottawa, ON 

Pour obtenir l’agrément et mériter le titre d’agrégé en relations publiques ARP, les candidats doivent entreprendre des études spéciales, subir des épreuves écrite et orale rigoureuses et soumettre un échantillon de travail. Simplement pour se qualifier en vue de l’examen d’agrément de la SCRP, les candidats doivent avoir acquis une solide réputation d’intégrité et de normes de pratique éthiques, tout en complétant un minimum de cinq années d’emploi à temps complet dans le domaine des relations publiques.

La Société canadienne des relations publiques (SCRP) est le seul organisme professionnel au Canada à représenter plus de 1,700 professionnels des relations publiques au sein de 16 sociétés membres dans l’ensemble du Canada qui s’engagent à respecter un Code de déontologie. La Société offre un programme d’agrément professionnel en relations publiques (ARP), des programmes de développement professionnel et d’éducation affiliés à divers collèges et universités, un registre d’emploi, des occasions de réseautage, une conférence annuelle nationale, un répertoire des membres ainsi qu’un forum de partage d’information.

Pour en savoir plus, communiquer avec Karen Dalton ARP, directrice générale de la SCRP, au 416-239-7034 ou à l’adresse kdalton@cprs.ca.

Application Deadline December 31; CyberAlert to Award $25,000

Stratford, CT — CyberAlert, Inc., the online media monitoring and measurement service, today announced that the company will award a minimum of 12 public relations grants to not-for-profit organizations. Each grant consists of one full year of free news monitoring / press clipping services, ranging in value from $2,700 to $3,900. The aggregate value of the grants is expected to total at least $25,000.

All not-for-profit, educational and charitable organizations in the United States and Canada are eligible to apply for the grants, except previous grant recipients. CyberAlert is accepting grant applications until December 31 and will announce the grant recipients in January. A simple and secure grant application is available online at https://secure.cyberalert.com/grants.html.

Since starting the PR Grants program in 2004, CyberAlert has awarded a total of 74 grants with a retail value of more than $125,000.

In January 2007, CyberAlert awarded PR grants to 24 organizations in the U.S. and Canada with a total value of $65,000. The award-winners included 100 Black Men of America, Inc.; ALS Society of Canada; C3: Colorectal Cancer Coalition; Center for Constitutional Rights; Environmental Defence (Canada); Family Literacy Foundation; Guttmacher Institute; Keep America Beautiful; Lance Armstrong Foundation; The Medicare Rights Foundation; and National Philanthropic Trust.

The 16 CyberAlert PR Grant award-winners in 2006 included included the Alliance for Consumer Education, Canada’s National History Society, FishAmerica Foundation, Global Fund for Women, JA Worldwide (Junior Achievement), Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), National Rural Health Association (NRHA), Oklahoma City National Memorial, Partnership Against Domestic Violence, and Relief International.

In 2005, CyberAlert awarded PR grants to 16 not-for-profit organizations including the American Jewish World Service, Common Cause Education Fund, Islamic Society of North America, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (Canada), National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and National Network to End Domestic Violence. In 2004, PR grant winners included Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, American Association of Poison Control Centers, Earthwatch Institute, La Leche League, Lutheran World Relief, and RespectED program of the Canadian Red Cross.

“The PR grant program is one way for CyberAlert to assist not-for-profit organizations and to give back to the public relations profession that has helped our business grow and expand successfully over the past seven years,” stated William J. Comcowich, CEO of CyberAlert.

Founded in 1999, CyberAlert (http://www.cyberalert.com/) is a worldwide press clipping, media monitoring, broadcast monitoring and media measurement service. Its CyberAlert® 4.0 worldwide news monitoring service monitors over 25,000 online news sources each day in 25+ languages. The company’s TV broadcast monitoring service monitors the closed caption text of over 2,100 news programs on over 500 TV stations in the Top 100 markets in the United States. To monitor consumer discussion (online word-of-mouth), its NetPinions™ service monitors over 100,000 Web message boards and UseNet news groups for consumer insight about companies, products, key issues and trends and its BlogSquirrel™ service monitors over 5 million blog postings each day from a total of 25+ million blogs worldwide. CyberAlert EdCals is an editorial calendars service covering over 3,000 publications with over 300,000 editorial opportunities.

Additional information about CyberAlert services is available at http://www.cyberalert.com

Contact:
William J. Comcowich
CyberAlert, Inc.
Phone: 800-461-7353