Priority Marketing President and Chief Creative Officer Teri Hansen, APR, received the prestigious Dillin Award through the Florida Public Relations Association. The Dillin Award is FPRA’s highest honor and recognizes a professional for his or her outstanding contributions to the organization as well as the field of public relations. The award is named for FPRA’s founder, Col. John Dillin.
“His vision and passion in founding FPRA, and the way he taught and mentored other professionals to lead and advocate for our profession, is unparalleled,” said Hansen, a founding member of FPRA’s Southwest Florida Chapter. “To receive this namesake award that honors Col. Dillin’s spirit and dedication to the public relations profession, and his lifetime of service to this association, is overwhelming, and the highlight of my career.”
FPRA began in 1938 as the Florida Association of Publicity Directors shortly after Dillin, who was publicity director for the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce at the time, convened public relations professionals from across Florida to coordinate efforts promoting the state as a whole and giving better cooperation to the press. Today, all FPRA members are dedicated to the association’s continued mission of developing public relations practitioners who, through ethical and standardized practices, enhance the public relations profession in Florida.
Hansen founded Priority Marketing in 1992 as a public relations firm, gradually adding a portfolio of services that now includes brand development, media planning, graphic design, social media and email marketing, web solutions, event planning, video production, digital advertising and more. Hansen and Priority Marketing have been the impetus behind thousands of business success stories across Southwest Florida while also serving as a trusted partner to the nonprofit community; the firm has provided nearly $4 million in pro bono and discounted services to local organizations over the past three decades.
In addition to founding FPRA’s Southwest Florida Chapter 37 years ago, Hansen was elected chapter president in 1989. The local chapter honored Hansen as PR Professional of the Year in 1999 and presented Hansen with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
At the state level, Hansen served for five consecutive years as FPRA’s vice president of the State Golden Image Awards and was chair of FPRA’s state conference in 1990. Hansen shares her expertise with fellow industry professionals across the state and has volunteered on numerous occasions as a judge for Image Awards competitions.
“This honor is well deserved,” said 2006 Dillin Award recipient Lynn Schneider, APR, CPRC, director of marketing and communications at Shell Point Retirement Community. “Teri is the epitome of public relations and marketing professionalism, and her integrity is beyond reproach. She and her team set an example in Southwest Florida as a business of the highest ethical standards.”
Niki Mann, president of FPRA’s Southwest Florida Chapter, noted that Priority Marketing made history in 2021 as the only firm to have swept the top three honors at FPRA’s Golden Image Awards in the competition’s 65-year history.
“Teri’s commitment to excellence shines through in everything she does, and she has contributed so much to the PR profession for over three decades,” Mann wrote in a letter of recommendation.
FPRA announced the Dillin Award on Aug. 9 in Orlando.
