If there were a communications olympics…

Note: I'm the vice president/president-elect of IABC Los Angeles (IABCLA), and I often post news of chapter happenings. Deborah Hudson, my fellow board member, wrote this piece for our group's website, and I wanted to share her article.  

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By Deborah Hudson, ABC
IABCLA Vice President, Member Retention; Past President

I want to start by pointing out that if there were a worldwide competition in communication, the degree of difficulty for the 2021 awards would be off the charts. The entries in crisis communications would include ongoing communication of the COVID pandemic, the January 6 Insurrection, weather disasters, and second impeachment of a U.S. president.

In individual all-round communications, the favorite is, of course, Dr. Anthony Fauci. The calm, factual, authoritative infectious disease specialist proved himself able to withstand not just the dizzy changes in the landscape of COVID-19 but acid social media and harsh political winds. He leads a field of skilled epidemiologist-communicators who have done outstanding work at unraveling the twisty mysteries of COVID.

The storytelling award goes to the House Select Committee on the January 6 insurrection for opening its hearings with the vivid personal testimony of four of the police officers who were involved and injured during the day’s attack: the human face of crisis. As
​The Washington Post reported, “The outlines of their stories were known, but over the course of their testimony, they brought home what it was like to be in the thick of the battle, at times fighting for their lives amid threats of death, racial slurs and insults and accusations that they, not the attackers, were traitors to democracy.”

This year has had its fair share of changes, crises, organizational upheavals – and successes. 

I know that IABC honors great communications, but I say NO ONE ever got too many awards or medals or certificates. What communicators/communications teams do you know who should be honored for their outstanding work in this difficult year? Let me know.