U of M JRSM Professor Kim Marks Malone Wins Top Honor at VOX Awards

Professor Kim Marks Malone of the Journalism and Strategic Media (JRSM) department won the Top Honor at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Vox Awards on November 3rd. This win marks her first time winning the prize.

Founded in 1947, PRSA is an organization built for and by public relations professionals. PRSA allows PR professionals to network and build their careers within the field. One hundred ten chapters make up PRSA, including representation on 375 college campuses. In addition to national ceremonies and events such as the Anvil Awards and ICON, the chapters of PRSA hold their own local events, such as the Memphis chapter's Vox Awards.

The ceremony, held at the Old Dominick Distillery, honors various public relations professionals for their work in the Mid-South area, and winners are selected based on their entries into the competition and with the assistance of other PRSA chapters in other cities. This year, the University of Memphis PRSSA chapter was represented by 16 students and Marks Malone herself.

For Marks Malone, the award was an unexpected surprise. "It was a great honor and a big surprise. I had no idea it was coming. They definitely surprised me with it," Marks Malone said.

Marks Malone has been involved with the Memphis PRSA chapter for 13 years, serving as a board member for 12 of those years. This year, Marks Malone became the district chair for PRSA, serving as the chair for the southeast district, which includes Memphis. She also helped the University of Mississippi chapter get started in her role as the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) liaison, the primary connection between the PRSA chapter and the various PRSSA chapters on college campuses.

This past year, Marks Malone became the faculty advisor for the University of Memphis PRSSA chapter, having been involved with the chapter since 2018, a role that PRSSA president Oakley Weddle describes as a hands-on role in the organization.

"I've worked closely with her on building our PRSSA chapter for the last year, and I was so proud to see her win such an honor. Kim is a titan, a legend, and an unstoppable force," Weddle said.