ECD Chair’s Aug. 2026 Message

AUGUST IS PLATINUM MONTH

Someone Among Us Has the Metal to be 2026 Platinum Award Honoree

August is “Platinum Month” as the East Central District prepares to honor a colleague whom we admire as a role model for our profession with our 31st annual Platinum Award campaign.

Why do we choose platinum as a symbol of excellence? Maybe because it’s durable, resistant to tarnish. Yet it is also a soft metal, easy to shape. It’s found often in wedding bands, symbolically bonding lives for eternity. At the same time, it is instrumental for electronics, from autos to AI data centers, and platins are a cornerstone of cancer chemotherapy.

That’s a lot to live up to! But through their intelligence, humanity, and ingenuity, our 28 ECD Platinum Award honorees have delivered well. They have stood up for ideals and ethics and evolved with changing times. They have demonstrated a career-long commitment to their work and their volunteer support of ECD and PRSA. They might not light up new fuel cells or fight cancer, but they know how to spread the word on how it’s being done, who is leading the way, and why it matters to you.

ECD launched the Platinum Award in 1996 to celebrate the legacy of PRSA Detroit member Donald P. Durocher, APR, Fellow PRSA, a former national PRSA board member and ECD chair. He was posthumously named the first Platinum recipient. In all but two of the last 30 years, the ECD has presented the Platinum Award in Durocher’s memory, recognizing a practitioner for distinguished service and a reputation as a role model for other professionals.

The PRSA Detroit Chapter annually awards two Donald P. Durocher scholarships to foster undergraduates pursuing a career in PR or a related field. Both our first and our most recent Platinum recipients represent PRSA Detroit. PRSA Immediate Past Chair Ray Day, APR, was serving as national chair when he was presented with the Platinum Award at the 2025 East Central District Conference in Dublin, Ohio.

“My very first piece of advice is to love or leave what you do,” Day said at the 2025 Platinum Award presentation. “I have absolutely fallen in love with PRSA and spending time with people like you who are the embodiment of that passion of this great profession. My final piece of advice is to pass the baton to the next generation. Please speak to a group like this, please pass this on, take these lessons learned.”

PRSA Detroit boasts four Platinum winners, but PRSA Central Ohio leads the way with nine. PRSA Cleveland and the former Akron chapter have four winners combined. PRSA West Virginia follows with three Platinum honorees, while PRSA Hoosier, Thoroughbred, West Michigan, and White Pine each claim two recipients. Seven ECD chapters are without a Platinum winner. Complete list of winners here.

I have said often that I was reluctant to become ECD chair because I felt unworthy (yes, imposter syndrome is a real thing) and I simply did not want to follow so many “Sinatras.”

Our 2018 Platinum winner, Rick Batyko, APR, from Akron and Greater Cleveland, was our ECD representative to the National Board when I joined the ECD board. He epitomized the supportive, good shepherd management style.

Our 2020 ECD chair Adrienne Wallace, Ph.D., steered the district through the pandemic with the academic clarity and purpose she brought to her college PR classrooms. It was before the pandemic that she presciently said, “I love a good crisis. There is nothing like being the cool-headed person, formulating solutions, in a room full of drama against the unknown future. Feeling like you can make an immediate difference in a situation is a really gracious experience.”

“I’ve made pretty much every mistake one can make in PR and every time I’ve learned from the experience and bounced back more resilient than before,” Adrienne also said. “There is something so powerful about experiencing a loss, an error, or whatever – that really makes you appreciate the good stuff that goes right. I think you learn more about people in times of crisis and failure than you do when everything is going smoothly.”

I was recruited to the ECD board by PRSA Central Ohio’s John Palmer, APR. John is our PRSA National Board ECD representative; he chaired the ECD in 2021, won the Platinum Award in 2023, and will serve as secretary of the 2027 National Board. John is the consummate PR professional and organizational leader – he simply thinks of everything. I keep telling him he should get into politics and run for statewide office someday!

John humbly said after winning the Platinum, “Most days it doesn’t feel like work because I’m doing what I enjoy, especially with friends and colleagues in public relations. Thanks, PRSA East Central District for this honor.”

Please think of colleagues like Rick, Adrienne, and John who you have known and admired in your professional life and nominate them for the Platinum.

Nominees should demonstrate exceptional service at the chapter, district, or national level, including PRSSA involvement, authoring books, articles, and presentations, plus any professional organizational work that enhanced the understanding of PR and impacted the profession. Thanks in advance for gathering this research to support your nomination.

The winner will be announced at the ECD Conference Mixer event Sept. 16 in Detroit. I can’t wait to celebrate our next Platinum honoree!

2026 ECD Platinum Award Nomination Form