Firm Takes Home 14 Awards, Including Gold Bell in Media Event Category
NORTH ANDOVER and CANTON — John Guilfoil Public Relations LLC (JGPR) is proud to announce that the company was the top award winner at this year’s 54th Annual Bell Ringer Awards, taking home 14 awards in a variety of categories on behalf of the company’s first responder, school and municipal clients.
This marks the second consecutive year JGPR has earned the most total awards at the ceremony.
Sponsored by the PR Club, New England’s leading networking and education organization for public relations and communications professionals, the Bell Ringer Awards honor superior work completed by PR and communications professionals across the region.
“It is a great honor to be the most awarded firm in all of New England for the second consecutive year and I am extremely proud of our team for all of their hard work this past year,” said company founder and principal John Guilfoil. “What is most noteworthy is that we earned awards for every sector we work with including police departments, fire departments, public schools, municipal government agencies and non-profits. The breadth of these awards shows the exceptional work we do on behalf of our clients across New England, and to top a list of award winners that includes some of the oldest and largest firms in the region shows that our brand of PR is both accessible and highly effective.”
In total, JGPR won one Gold Bell, six Silver Bells, five Bronze Bells and two Merit Awards.
The company swept the Media Event category, taking home the Gold Bell for work on behalf of the Randolph Police Department and Animal Rescue League of Boston to gain media attention after police located four adult dogs and 20 puppies allegedly living in unsanitary conditions without adequate access to food and water. JGPR was contacted by the Animal Rescue League with the need to hold a media event centered around the rescue, to both acknowledge and recognize those involved and to also draw attention to the case in the hopes the dogs would be adopted once they were medically cleared.
The Silver Bell award for Media Event was earned for a press conference coordinated on behalf of the Town of Scituate, which was in need of a media event/rally to draw attention to the planned closure of the U.S. Coast Guard station in town. The event and subsequent media attention ultimately resulted in the station being spared from closure by the Coast Guard.
The Bronze Bell award for Media Event was for work on behalf of Armstrong Ambulance, who needed assistance organizing a reunion between one of their paramedics and a couple whom he saved during an emergency call years earlier. The reunion was the first time the paramedic and the couple met face-to-face since the incident.
JGPR’s North Andover office was recognized for work the company did on behalf of numerous clients throughout the North Shore offering COVID-19 pediatric vaccine clinics. In particular several promotional campaigns were promoted for the Town of Littleton/Littleton Public Schools, the Lower Merrimack Valley Regional Collaborative and the Greater Cape Ann Community Collaborative.
In addition to the many awards received for the company’s work in public relations, Video Executive Producer Cynthia Johnson and JGPR’s Video Division earned an award for a recruitment video on behalf of the East Kingston Fire Department. This was the second consecutive year the Video Division won a Bell Ringer award.
This was also the first year JGPR submitted an entry in the Podcast category. The podcast, produced on behalf of the Mansfield Public Schools, featured interviews with teachers and administrators from across the district and was launched to correspond with the start of the 2021-2022 school year. The “Hello Hornets” podcast featured 15 episodes across the month of September. JGPR’s Website Division, including Website Project Manager Kristen Potter and WordPress Specialist Katelyn Goddard, also produced a website dedicated to the podcast.
This is the seventh consecutive year that JGPR has been honored by the PR Club and the fifth time in the company’s history that it has received a Gold Bell award.
The Bell Ringer Awards were held on Thursday, June 16, at an in-person ceremony at the Royal Sonesta Boston hotel in Cambridge. This was the first in-person ceremony since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PR Club welcomed host Brianna Borghi, On-Air News Reporter for NBC5 of Burlington, VT, to announce the winners of the single-item categories and campaign winners. Additionally, the PR Club announced the winners of the Striker and Ringer professional awards, along with the John J. Molloy Crystal Bell for lifetime achievement and the Platinum Super Bell. This year, the event featured a new format that maximized networking time for attendees to meet and celebrate together.
In keeping with tradition, the PR Club will once again donate to the nonprofit organization of the host’s choice. This year, in honor of Brianna Borghi, the PR Club raised and donated $1,035 to Dress for Success Boston. This organization helps women break out of poverty and become financially independent by providing them with professional attire to instill confidence within and help secure employment.
“The excellence of our New England PR community shines through in this year’s Bell Ringer Award winners,” said Amanda Fountain, PR Club president and digital engagement lead at LEGO Education. “This year feels extra special as we returned to celebrating the incredible work and professionals in-person after two years of virtual events. The format of the Bell Ringer presentation may have adapted to the times, but the quality of the work and dedication of the individuals who do it is consistently impressive.”
The Bell Ringer Awards drew from hundreds of entries in more than 40 categories, from single placements to year-long campaigns. The PR Club awarded 99 awards, and JGPR’s 14 awards won was the most for any individual company.
In total, JGPR received the following awards:
Campaign Entries
Crisis Communications
- Silver Bell: Winthrop Police Respond to Mass Shooting and Hate Crime, Work to Support Community in Aftermath. Shared by Account Executive Leah Comins, Senior Account Executive Tom Zuppa, Principal John Guilfoil, Director of Client Relations Jordan Mayblum and Account Coordinator Alia Spring
Nonprofit
- Bronze Bell: Media Campaign Shines Light on East Boston Arts Nonprofit’s Ocean Advocacy Efforts. Earned by Senior Account Executive Matthew Reid
Single-Item Entries
Media Event
- Gold Bell: Randolph Police, ARL Boston Find Homes for Dogs Rescued From Squalor. Shared by Account Executive Leah Comins, Vice President Ben Paulin and Account Executive Taylor O’Neil
- Silver Bell: Town of Scituate Hosts “Save Our Station” Rally to Preserve Regional U.S. Coast Guard Station. Shared by Senior Account Executive Matthew Reid and Account Executive Taylor O’Neil
- Bronze Bell: Armstrong Paramedic Reunites With Couple After Life-Saving Response. Earned by Senior Account Executive Tom Zuppa
National Media Placement
- Silver Bell: Town of East Bridgewater Celebrates James Ingargiola’s Successful Battle Against COVID-19 Earned by Senior Account Executive Matthew Reid
- Merit Award: North Attleboro Firefighters Perform Life-Saving Rescue From 30,000 Feet. Shared by Account Executive Taylor O’Neil and Vice President Ben Paulin
Regional Media Placement
- Bronze Bell: “We trained For This”: Firefighters Aid in Emergency Baby Deliveries. Shared by Account Executive Leah Comins and Senior Account Executive Matthew Reid
COVID-19 Product or Service
- Bronze Bell: Leading the Way with Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics. Shared by Senior Account Executive Tom Zuppa, Principal John Guilfoil, Director of Client Relations Jordan Mayblum, Account Coordinator Alia Spring and Copywriter Robert Mills
Television – Local/Regional Placement
- Bronze Bell: Two Taunton Police Officers Buy Bicycle for 6-Year-Old Boy After His was Stolen Twice. Earned by Vice President Benjamin Paulin
- Merit Award: Everyone Loves Waffles: Tewksbury Police Show Off New Comfort Dog. Earned by Copywriter Robert Mills
Agency Citizenship or Pro Bono Work
- Silver Bell: East Boston Artists Shine Light on Ocean Advocacy During Weeklong Mural Celebration. Earned by Senior Account Executive Matthew Reid
Podcast
- Silver Bell: Mansfield Public Schools Launches “Hello Hornets” Podcast to Start 2021-2022 School Year. Earned by Senior Account Executive Matthew Reid
Video – Single Video
- Silver Bell: East Kingston Fire Department Seeks New Volunteer Members. Shared by Video Executive Producer Cynthia Johnson, Senior Account Executive Tom Zuppa and Account Coordinator Alia Spring
About the PR Club
Founded in 1948, PR Club strives to promote and encourage involvement in the communications industry and specifically the professions of public relations, promotions, and marketing. Get additional information about monthly New England-based PR Club programs, social and networking events, the “Bell Ringer” blog, and the Bell Ringer Awards Ceremony at prclub.org. Follow them on Twitter @PRClubofNE.
About the Bell Ringer Awards
The Bell Ringer Awards recognize public relations and communications work that demonstrates excellence in creative planning and professional education and exhibits a high degree of success in reaching predetermined objectives. Open to all New England practitioners, the program, now in its 54th year, symbolizes one of the greatest tributes in any field of endeavor – the recognition of superior performance by one’s peers.
About John Guilfoil Public Relations LLC:
Content, strategy, standards. With the philosophy that every police and fire department and government agency deserves effective communications and public relations on the same scale as major corporations, John Guilfoil Public Relations produces clear, concise written materials, communications strategy, website development, and crisis management services for our clients and responds to breaking news incidents for more than 300 police and fire departments, public schools, and municipal governments, and non-profits throughout New England and beyond. The company is based in Georgetown, Mass. and was founded by John Guilfoil, a former Boston Globe staff reporter who served as deputy press secretary for the late Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. JGPR.net.
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