PRSA-NY Big Apple Awards: Kerry O’Grady

Kerry O’Grady, Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University, School of Professional Studies, joins Doug Simon, CEO of D S Simon Media and President-Elect of PRSA-NY to talk about her experience teaching upcoming PR professionals at NYU, as well as, sharing tips for young PR professionals who would like to be nominated for a Big Apple Award.

DOUG SIMON: I’m here with Kerry O’Grady from NYU, I’m Doug Simon you’re watching us from one of 17 different live streams or maybe not, maybe you’re watching us on one of those sites of video on demand but you’re involved and that’s awesome. Thrilled to have Kerry here so from an educator perspective, you’re working with some of the best and brightest. Coming up I guess soon we’ll have the you know 10 under 10 awards.

KERRY O’GRADY : Yeah our students are that young.

DOUG SIMON: No well some are advanced, but they’re so smart is they get younger. What are things that you’ve sort of benefited and maybe bringing into the education process through your experience with PRSA-NY?

DOUG SIMON: Well what’s been wonderful is PR education is changing every day. Every day is about learning and bringing trends and news into the classroom to make it real time. And one of the most wonderful things about PRSA-NY is that you meet people and you talk to people every day they give you news and information that you wouldn’t otherwise have. And so that network. And that’s, those stories are really valuable to bring into the classroom every day and that includes award winners. That includes entrance that includes a whole bunch of people who know what they’re doing every day makes a difference in the communication field.

DOUG SIMON: That’s awesome and now putting together your entry. And obviously you’re familiar with many of the categories as a 15 under 35 winner, you’re eligible to submit to become a judge in this. Any advice for people who are looking to enter in some of the different areas?

KERRY O’GRADY : Sure. I mean I think that the biggest thing is you know your worth and know your- we know your value in the marketplace. If you’ve done something amazing don’t sell yourself short, know that you are amazing and that your work will speak for itself. Strategy and critical thinking and problem solving are truly the things that stand out in storytelling and so don’t, don’t always focus on your tactics. Focus on the things that are going to tell a great story and all of those elements definitely do.

DOUG SIMON: And a lot of that shows up in the award winning categories. Now for those who are competing for  PRSA Anvil award the award entry forms for the vast majority of awards are almost identical. So it’s a very easy switch for them to cut and paste. And also after the Big Apple awards and you know hopefully this year’s awards are more fun. We actually have two goals as we’re coming up on the Oscars weekend for the awards. We’re hoping the event will be more glamorous than the Academy Awards. We’re anticipating it’ll be longer, so we can go one out of two on those goals.

KERRY O’GRADY : That’s quite the goal!

DOUG SIMON: I think we can achieve it that we’re doing. What are some of the things that you’ve learned you’ve mentioned a bunch of things from your participation with the chapter.

KERRY O’GRADY : So I’ve learned to always be proud of the work that you’re doing and to be your best storyteller and you’re the best advocate for your story. So if you feel like you’ve done something newsworthy or worthwhile it’s always wonderful to nominate yourself for things. And that’s one thing I’ve learned with being part of the organization. The other thing is that the value of education just tying it back to my work at NYU SPS the value of education from other people cannot be oversold. Being able to just have coffee with someone that you’ve met within the organization or to just have a conversation at one of the meet ups is incredibly valuable not just in the moment but also to your future career.

DOUG SIMON: Great. Thanks so much for being with us and we’re going to keep it moving hopefully some of the people you associate with will be submitting nominations participating as judges getting involved being sponsors of course they can go to PRSA-NY.org to do all of those great things.