The City of Avondale Estates was among the public relations firms, corporations, nonprofits, and government entities honored November 10 with a 2020 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Phoenix Award – Award of Excellence for Community Relations. The Community Relations category contained entries from both government and nonprofits, including fellow finalist and winner The Home Depot Foundation.

Presented by Georgia Public Broadcasting’s Morning Edition Host Leah Fleming, Communication Manager Rebecca Long and Assistant City Manager Shannon Powell received the award that focuses on the efforts of the City to increase public engagement in the process of planning the park for the new Town Green. From online surveys with more response than any other in the City’s history to assess the needs and wants for the park area to livestreamed meetings and Q&A sessions, the engagement portion of the park planning process drew large crowds and featured a variety of ways for stakeholders to connect and participate. When COVID-19 hit, the efforts were quickly revamped to include digital only tactics.

Avondale Estates was the only city government named as a winner this year. Additionally, the City of Avondale Estates was one of only two honorees not to have a team of 20 or more professionals dedicated to public relations and communications or utilize a firm for such work.

The Phoenix Awards is a competition held by the Georgia Chapter of PRSA to recognize projects and programs that demonstrate excellence in the state’s public relations profession. With more than 900 members, PRSA Georgia is the organization’s second largest chapter.