PRISM Gala 2008
Saturday, October 11th, 2008
Recognition is best when it comes unexpectedly. When it’s not the end goal, it’s easier to be open minded and genuine during the creative process.
That point proved itself to me last night when I received an indirect honor at the PRISM Awards Gala at the Sprint Center. I was attending the ceremony to claim an award for PlattForm Advertising’s work on its philanthropic web site and related e-mail campaigns. This is the first time the agency has participated in the awards competition hosted by the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.
The event this year was held at the College Basketball Experience - the interactive tribute to all things college basketball. Erin Curtin of Trozzolo Communications Group and the others planning the festivities couldn’t have chosen a more perfect location. The displays and arcade-style basketball games seemed to loosen up the participants quite a bit.
I sipped on a couple of Boulevard beers and chatted mostly with an old friend, Will Gregory, who was kind enough to introduce me to Ink Magazine staffers whose organization was co-sponsoring the event. After listening to Bill Self, Lute Olsen, and Rick Majeris among others attempting to descibe the NCAA Championship tournament experience, I was content to sit in the back of the assembly hall and munch on a plate of appetizers. My thinking was that I’d walk up to the stage and grab the little glass trophy on behalf of PlattForm, then head home. And, that’s essentially what happened.
But before I had my chance to walk upfront, another project I was involved with flashed on the projection screen. The Urban Tour promotional materials that the Downtown Council worked on in conjunction with Sturges Word won a Silver PRISM Award. I was the copywriter for that project. Christina Boveri, who is deeply involved with the DTC, hooked me up with the freelance assignment. As always, I was grateful to her and thankful for her belief in me. She’s single-handedly changed my writing career, but the surprise award gave me an extra shot of gratitude.
I walked back to my parking spot in the garage near the Central Library feeling as if the city wasn’t so ominous, but then the building tops gave me pause. Uneven and dividing the sky into a narrow strip, the corporate towers made me content again. I felt fortunate to do what I love to do for a living and to recognize the creativity inside me, not for adoration or notoriety.
On this night, it was an extraordinary pleasure to duck under the branches of the sidewalk sapplings, to pass by the crowds of bodies and the groups of young people on the way to the Power & Light District to add some of their own surprise to life.
