JonesPR garners national award in ‘PRWEEK’ competition


PRWEEK has announced that Jones PR, an integrated communications and public affairs agency, won Honorable Mention from the publication in a prestigious U.S. awards competition. The recognition came for the Oklahoma City-based agency’s work with the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) in the Non-Profit Campaign of the Year category.

Winners were announced last Friday at a ceremony in New York City at the famous landmark Cipriani Wall Street.


The NDSS campaign, launched by Jones PR, supported passage of the historic ‘Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act at the conclusion of the 113th U.S. Congress. The ABLE Act allows individuals with disabilities to save in tax-free savings accounts to cover expenses like housing, transportation, post-secondary education, job supports and other costs related to the disability without jeopardizing federal benefits.


“The ABLE Act is the most significant disability-related law that Congress has passed in 25 years, and one of the most bipartisan laws to come before Congress in a long time. Even with 85% of the entire Congress supporting the ABLE Act, we needed the national strategic communication and advocacy plan deployed by Jones PR to complement the grassroots pressure to members of the 113th Congress,” said NDSS President Sara Hart Weir.


Jones PR is the only Oklahoma agency honored in the highly coveted national awards. The NDSS account team included Jones PR President Brenda Jones Barwick, APR; Vice President/Public Affairs and Consumer Marketing Joshua Harlow, Manager/Public Affairs Suzanne Singleterry and Senior Account Executive/Consumer Marketing Taylor Ketchum.

“We are honored to have won among some of the largest and most successful non-profit campaigns in the past year, and most importantly, make a positive impact on thousands of families in our country,” said Barwick.


The other nonprofit category finalists were campaigns for the United Nations Foundation, Clinton Foundation and Lambda Legal. The Truth Initiative “Left Swipe Dat” anti-smoking campaign won best nonprofit campaign.

The PRWeek U.S. Awards celebrate the best corporate, agency, nonprofit and education work produced during the awards’ annual entry period. A panel of 92 judges from the top public relations agencies nationwide review, discuss and score each entry based on research, strategic planning, creativity and results in 31 categories. One of the judges stated about the NDSS campaign, “This showed PR’s effectiveness in achieving results.”


Harlow said, in comments sent to CapitolBeatOK and other news organizations, “Our account teams are some of the best in the country and this honor truly represents the high-caliber of work we are performing on a day-to-day basis for well-known organizations in Oklahoma, our region and across the country.”

Barwick noted that Monday, March 21, was World Down Syndrome Day, which made announcement of this recognition extra special.

Jones PR was formed in 2001 and has grown into a leading national integrated communications and public affairs agency with international partners through PROI Worldwide www.proi.org. Jones PR leads a digital trend in Oklahoma with its new domain – www.jones.pr. The agency provides a full range of services in traditional, digital and social media for national corporations and associations. www.City-Sentinel.com