Award for Excellence in Communication Consulting

The Award for Excellence in Communication Consulting honors the impact of effective professional communication consulting on the corporate, government, and nonprofit worlds. The award also acknowledges the contribution of communication consultants to the ABC community. The award is sponsored by ABC and the Association for Professional Communication Consultants (APCC). The winning project will receive $1,000 USD and the recipient(s) will receive a plaque or certificate. The recipient(s) will be invited to present the award-winning project at the ABC Annual International Conference the year following receipt of the award.

Eligibility Criteria

A least one of the recipients must be a member of ABC and must either be a full-time consultant or show evidence of significant part-time consulting. Student projects completed for coursework or as a degree requirement are not eligible. Projects completed as “work for hire” must produce permission from the owner to be submitted.

Members may nominate projects in one of three categories:

Excellence in Writing, for either (1) outstanding writing or revision of a professional document for a client or (2) outstanding writing of a published, communication-related book that is intended for a public audience. Books primarily intended as academic textbooks are not eligible for this award.
Excellence in Training, for designing and conducting a specific, outstanding communication training program in the workplace.
Excellence in Digital Media, for a superior electronic communication project characterized by outstanding writing, appealing graphics and/or video, and ease of use. Projects may include a web site, social media project, or online campaign (to build awareness, promote a product, manage a crisis, etc.).

Members of the Evaluation Committee and past award winners are not eligible to receive the award.

The award may be presented in one of three categories: Excellence in Writing, Excellence in Training, and Excellence in Electronic Media. The Call for Proposals describes the criteria for each category, the application procedure, and eligibility requirements. Submit nomination materials by first logging in to ABC and then completing the form below.

Nominations/Selection

Self-nominations are solicited annually by the ABC Consulting SIG and are judged by an evaluation committee consisting of previous members of the APCC Board of Directors and/or previous award winners who are ABC members. The members of the Evaluation Committee will review each application based on criteria published with the call for nominations and choose a winner based on those criteria. The Committee will inform the Executive Director.

If no nominee fulfills the award criteria within a given year, the committee may choose not to select a winner.

Notification

When the recipient is selected, the winner will be notified by the Executive Director or designee at least 90 days before the ABC Annual International Conference. The winner will be asked to submit a photograph to be used in the award presentation.

Preparing for Following Year's Conference

The recipient will present a paper at the following year’s conference and should submit their paper during the submission period.

Winners of the Award for Excellence in Communication Consulting

2025 Heather Hansen, Global Speech Academy
2025 Carla May Kim, Freelance/Independent
2024 Jimmy P. Miller, Temple University
2023 Not Awarded
2022 Not Awarded
2021 Jenny Morse, Colorado State University
2020 Theomary Karamanis, Cornell University
2019 Curtis Newbold, Westminster College
2018 Rita Owens, Boston College
2017 Karin Goettsch, The Mosaic Company and University of Minnesota
2016 Carolyn Boccella Bagin, Center for Clear Communication, Inc.
2015 Sana Reynolds, Baruch College, City University of New York