NIU’s Office of Public Affairs was honored by Public Relations Society of America with the nations most prominent award for public relations June 4 in New York City.

“After experiencing the tragedy of February 14, 2008, it feels like receiving this Silver Anvil Award is bittersweet,” said NIU President John Peters.

The Silver Anvil is “the most iconic achievement, and is annually awarded to organizations, which have succeeded in addressing with contemporary issues, with professionalism, skill, creativity and resourcefulness,” according to PRSA’s Web site.

Even with 900 applicants for the Silver Anvil Award, NIU still proved to be a distinctive nominee.

“We would have never won this award if it wasn’t for our professionalism in preparation,” said Melanie Magara, assistant vice president of public affairs. “Our steps were precisely executed, and I credit John Peters for the preparation of the plan.”

The public affairs office has learned to polish its plan from past events such as the April 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. NIU’s Webmaster Jennice O’Brien spoke with counterparts from Virginia Tech to enhance Web communication techniques. Public Affairs staff attended line-by-line tiresome reviews of the Virginia Tech Review Panel Report, according to Public Affairs’ “Lessons Learned” evaluation book.

But even with good plans, contemporary issues still call for great execution. In late August, DeKalb was hit with a downpour of rainfall which led to dangerous travel flooding that required total campus evacuation on the day before the fall semester started.

Four months later, NIU’s preparation plan was once again challenged, when a racial threat was found in a residence hall bathroom. Each time public affairs staff reacted successfully in implementing its plan and always used the lessons learned for upgrading future templates, according to the evaluation.

Emergency alerts were displayed by Web, e-mail, voicemail and hotlines by 3:20 p.m., 15 minutes after shootings occurred. Peters implemented the plan with no meetings or discussions.

“We wanted to forward all information in a respectful and compassionate way,” Peters said. “But still we had to be accurate.”

The Web sites were the more powerful mediums for obtaining information, with automatic reposting to Facebook. Peters took the role of being the public face of the university as he often delivered messages of determination, care and sympathy, according to the evaluation.

Building services and NIU police complied to facilitate parking for more than 25 satellite trucks, which streamed all news conferences and events live on the Internet. NIU worked with its counterparts at Kishwaukee Hospital, One Kish Hospital Drive, to release information about victims.

Memorial Web sites were created with applications that allowed guests to leave messages of condolence and hope. When classes resumed, more than 300 counselors from all around the world volunteered to talk to students in hopes to help begin the healing process.