Public Relations Professionals of Long Island - PRPLI

05/09/2025

Meet the judging panel of the 2025 PRPLI Awards! 🎊

Behind every great award program stands an exceptional panel of judges whose expertise, dedication, and commitment to excellence make recognition possible. 🏅

Read more about the judges here: https://prpli.org/meet-the-judging-panel-of-the-2025-prpli-awards/.

Join us on May 14 to celebrate this year’s honorees during the 2025 PRPLI Awards Luncheon! Find more information about the event here: https://prpli.org/awards-program/.

05/08/2025

We are excited to announce Jeffrey L. Reynolds, Ph.D as our 2025 Scholarship Award winner! ✨🎖️

One of Long Island’s largest and oldest health and human service organizations, FCA goes above and beyond to care for the region’s most vulnerable, serving 35,000+ individuals annually, while helping them prepare for the future.

Amid rising costs and increased demand for mental health and support services, FCA’s work is more crucial than ever. They provide services for clients aged 2 to 102, including comprehensive addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery programs, including wraparound services.

Since joining FCA, Dr. Reynolds has secured over $18 million in new funding and launched several innovative services, including THRIVE Recovery Centers and a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate program. He also helped secure funding from SAMHSA to establish a new Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic in Nassau, integrating mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

An influential thought leader, Jeff has earned seats at significant tables, contributing to discussions on gaming, cannabis/opioid use, human trafficking, mental health, & more.

With a dedicated team of over 360, 200 volunteers, and over 40 programs, Jeff ensures FCA remains at the forefront, making Long Island a better place. As a lifelong Long Islander and two-time cancer survivor, he brings his drive, passion, and unwavering commitment to everything he does.

05/07/2025

We are excited to announce Vito Postiglione as our 2025 Scholarship Award winner! ✨🎖️

Vito Postiglione is a passionate designer, photographer, and content creator with two years of experience in social media marketing, videography, and strategic design. Currently working as a Student Content Producer at Farmingdale State College, Vito has captured and edited hundreds of photos, covered high-profile events, and collaborated on creative campaigns across various digital platforms. Driven by creativity and storytelling, Vito strives to produce visually compelling content that engages and inspires.

05/05/2025

We are excited to announce Christopher Collora as our 2025 PR Campaign of the Year winner! ✨🎖️

Christopher Collora is currently PR Manager at the EGC Group in Melville. He is an award-winning former journalist with over a decade of experience in print, broadcast, and digital news platforms including The Babylon Beacon, Long Island News Tonight, News 12 Long Island, NY1 News, WMBC-TV, and Patch.com.

In his journalism career, he covered many major stories in the NYC and Long Island areas. At Long Island News Tonight, he produced an award-winning multi-part TV news series about Long Island’s Gold Coast Era Mansions. He has won several awards including Press Club of Long Island awards, Society of Professional Journalists awards, a Telly Award, and a Folio Award.

After relocating to the Southwest US in 2013, he switched careers into public relations and marketing while working for Los Angeles based Wolfcom as their Marketing Director, where he developed a nationwide multi-media campaign promoting the company’s line of body-worn police cameras, publicized new police departments across the country using them and developed a website to bring police, and concerned citizens together to raise money for the departments to start body camera programs.

He would eventually go on to work as a Public Relations Account Executive for the SPR Agency, working with clients in the manufacturing, law, medical, dust suppression, and housing development industries. Later he went on to pioneer the use of video for PR purposes for Orca Communications, developing the Video Infused Press Release.

In 2019 he returned to New York and worked for Butler Associates in Manhattan working on high profile PR campaigns for the MetroPSA, the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, and the 9/11 community law firm of Barasch & McGarry. Later that year he was hired by EGC Group and worked with a wide range of clients in varying industries, most notably the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame and Adventureland.

He is also the author of Long Island: Historic Houses of the South Shore (Arcadia Press, 2013) and was recognized as a "Top Advocate for Historical Preservation and Education" by the Oyster Bay Historical Society. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from the New York Institute of Technology.

05/02/2025

We are excited to announce Sarah Logan as our 2025 Rising Star Award winner! ✨🎖️

Sarah Logan is the Communications Coordinator of IPRO, a non-profit organization that works with government agencies, healthcare providers, and consumers to improve lives by improving health. She began with IPRO in June of 2022 as a Communications Intern, and has since been promoted to her current full time position. As IPRO’s Communications Coordinator, she manages the organization’s internal and external communications by facilitating the publication of employee newsletters, writing timely press releases about company projects and news, planning and posting social media material, and much more.

Prior to her job at IPRO, Sarah attended CUNY City College and studied English with a concentration in creative writing with a minor in journalism. Sarah is also a recipient of City College's Book Publishing Certificate from the Publishing Certificate Program (P*P). During college, she was the Editor-in-Chief of The Campus Magazine, a student-run publication. Additionally, she held a summer internship at The Guardian US as a Features Desk Intern.

In her personal life, Sarah enjoys writing personal essays, reading, hiking, and playing the cello.

04/30/2025

We are excited to announce Robert Chartuk as our 2025 Outstanding Media Award winner! ✨🎖️

Robert Chartuk has been covering the news as a South Shore Press reporter for the last 20 years and has a history of journalism and public relations going back to 1980. He’s written about every newsworthy event on Long Island over the past few decades, as well as state, national, and worldwide issues that impact the region.

Through his articles, he celebrates the area’s rich historical and cultural significance and the many other facets of the place he calls home. His weekly Man on the Street column gives voice to residents on key issues.

Robert also has a long record of government service, having worked for the Town of Brookhaven, New York State Senate and Assembly, and the U.S. Department of Commerce. His life intersected with that of a famous contemporary, and he wrote about it in the book, “JFK, Jr. and Me, the Other Side of Camelot.”

His first news story was published in The Messenger while he was a student at Oswego State College in 1980. Upon graduation, he went to work at Suffolk Life Newspapers and hasn’t stopped writing since, always focusing on the rich fabric of people who make Long Island unique. Through all his roles, it’s safe to say that he’s had something published in one form or another nearly every week for the last 45 years.

Inspired by the local waters, Robert has traveled worldwide to pursue his passion for surfing and diving, including expeditions to the Baja, Nicaragua, Western Sumatra, and New Zealand. He’s dived the Grand Turk Abyss and the ancient lava tubes of Kauai and surfed five of the breaks mentioned in The Beach Boys' song, “Surfing USA.” His life in, on, and over the water is detailed in his upcoming book, “A Surfer’s Life.”

04/28/2025

We are excited to announce Jennifer Cline Sargent as our 2025 Howard M. Blankman PRPLI Mentor Award winner! ✨🎖️

Jennifer Cline Sargent has over 25 years of experience in the public relations field representing non-profit organizations, retail, and restaurant clients. After working with the March of Dimes and Muscular Dystrophy Association, she joined Ryan & Ryan PR Inc. in Farmingdale in 1997. Rising to assistant vice president, she oversaw the agency’s largest account, Simon Property Group, providing strategy and publicity for national programs as well as media relations and training for the malls in the Northeast division. Jennifer is the proud recipient of the Simon Property Group Award of Excellence for crisis communication and the Rising Star award from Public Relations Professionals of Long Island, where she was a former board member.

Currently serving as a PR consultant for the Plattduetsche Park Restaurant, Catering & Biergarten in Franklin Square, Jennifer has also taught as an adjunct in Hofstra University’s department of journalism, media studies, and public relations since 2013. She especially enjoys working with students to improve their writing since it is such a vital skill for the communications field. In September 2023, she was appointed as the director of the graduate program in public relations at Hofstra. This position includes recruitment, admissions, advising students, and working with the faculty who teach in the graduate program. Jennifer also dedicates time to support the efforts of Hofstra’s Star Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and help students network.

Jennifer earned both a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Master of Arts degree in communication arts from New York Institute of Technology in Old Westbury, where she graduated with distinction.

She lives in West Hempstead with her husband, Tom, and three children, Aidan, Eric and Irina as well as two cats, Baxter and Bradley. When she is not working or spending time with her family, Jennifer enjoys reading, walking and yoga as well as singing in her church choir and volunteering.

04/25/2025

We are excited to announce Ron Edelson as our 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award winner! ✨🎖️

Ron Edelson is a partner, founder, and co-president of ZE Creative Communications. He has been involved in marketing, promotion, and public relations for over 40 years. His diverse background includes work with manufacturers, financial industry clients, public and private school districts, municipalities, and not-for-profit organizations, primarily in the Long Island/Metro New York region. Ron began his career at MGA, a boutique Long Island-based advertising agency. MGA’s specialty was Long Island marketing, with a client roster that included Long Island-based financial institutions, high-end Long Island catering facilities, law and accounting firms, and retail. Ron, who rose from account manager to an officer of the agency, was primarily involved with developing messaging and marketing strategy for the agency’s clients.

After a brief stint in the foreign automobile market on the importer side, Ron joined with Robert Zimmerman to found Zimmerman/Edelson, Inc. in 1988, which, in 2019, was rebranded as ZE Creative Communications. Ron’s primary role at ZE Creative Communications is heading up the agency’s public education division and working with the agency’s creative division in developing advertising campaigns for select agency clients.

In addition to his responsibilities at ZE Creative Communications, Ron has served as executive director of the Great Neck Plaza Business Improvement District (BID), the first BID in New York State outside of a city municipality. Ron recently stepped down from this position after 35 years. His understanding of the local nature of Long Island business, and the relationships between the residential and commercial markets in individual villages, led to his being called upon to assist in the initial establishment in the 1990s of local BIDS in Cedarhurst, Port Washington, Westbury, and Riverhead.

Ron has been honored by Long Island chambers of commerce and local and state urban development organizations, and is frequently called on by local, state, and national trade associations and organizations to speak on marketing, public relations, and advertising.

Ron recently moved to Garden City with his wife Beth after residing in Great Neck for over 35 years. Ron has two grown children and one grandchild.

04/22/2025

Reserve your spot today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-annual-awards-luncheon-tickets-1227903074149?utm_experiment=test_share_listing&aff=ebdsshios

Congratulations to the 2025 Award Honorees. Join us in celebrating them and their accomplishments on May 14, 11:30 am - 2:30 pm at Westbury Manor. Learn more: https://bit.ly/PRPLI25

03/25/2025

Congratulations to the 2025 Award Honorees. Join us in celebrating them and their accomplishments on May 14, 11:30 am - 2:30 pm at Westbury Manor. Learn more: https://bit.ly/PRPLI25

03/03/2025

Each year, PRPLI awards a $2,000 scholarship and a complimentary PRPLI membership to one lucky winner. 🎓💰

The March 7 deadline to submit applications for the 2025 PRPLI scholarship is fast approaching! ⏰ Eligible students can learn more and apply here: https://prpli.org/scholarship-program/

02/18/2025

Each year, PRPLI awards a $2,000 scholarship and a complimentary one-year PRPLI membership to one lucky winner. This year's winner will be presented with their check and membership at our 2025 Annual Awards Luncheon in May.

Learn more about eligibility criteria and apply here: https://prpli.org/scholarship-program/