Professional Achievement Award 2021

Each year, SPRF member organizations (ECPRO, PRAL, PRAM, and PRCA) are invited to nominate one outstanding public relations professional for the SPRF Professional Achievement Award, formerly known as the Practitioner of the Year. The recipient of this award is announced at the SPRF annual conference. SPRF established this award to recognize an individual that has continually demonstrated the highest ideals of the profession as well as a commitment to advance the profession of public relations.

2021 SPRF PAA Recipient

Tracy Yanez, APR, PRAM

SPRF Honors Mississippi’s Tracy Yanez, APR, with the 2021 Professional Achievement Award

Panama City Beach, FL – Each year, the Southern Public Relations Federation (SPRF) honors one of its members with the organization’s highest individual honor, the Professional Achievement Award. SPRF established this award to recognize an individual that has continually demonstrated the highest ideals of the profession as well as a commitment to advance the profession of public relations.

The 2021 SPRF Professional Achievement Award winner is Tracy Yanez, APR. Yanez is the director of the Gulfport Chamber of Commerce.

One of the judges said of Yanez, “Tracy is what I would expect to see in an award winner at this level. Her depth of experience is broad and impressive, and she overcame some significant life struggles to get there. Her excellent writing skills are instrumental in presenting herself as a worthy winner. She really "gets" PR strategy, not just the tactics, and effectively advances her company's goals.”

Yanez is a natural networker with a heart for connecting people with each other and/or information to meet needs that have far-reaching goals.

Her 30-plus year career in communications includes working as a reporter/writer at The (Biloxi) Sun Herald, Mississippi the Gulf Coast Community College’s Office of Institutional Relations, and the State Board for Community Colleges in Jackson. In 1999, Yanez joined Mississippi Power’s Corporate Communication team for a 20-year career of progressing roles of responsibility to meet evolving communication and community support needs. In 2019, she joined the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce, where she currently serves as the director of the Gulfport Chamber of Commerce.

Yanez contributes her communications/community relations skills to even further-reaching goals as the communications director at Crosspoint Church, supporting five ministry leaders. She’s traveled and actively participated with missions teams supporting Churches in Victoria, British Columbia, and Thailand.

A member of the Mississippi Beach Chapter of the Public Relations Association of Mississippi (PRAM) since 1996, recently serving two terms as APR chair. Yanez has served in various officer roles for both state PRAM (president, 2003) and the Southern Public Relations Federation (president, 2006 and 2007). She remains a member of the SPRF Senior Leadership Council.

Away from work, Yanez enjoys gardening, traveling, and camping with her husband, Peter. They have four children and three lovingly spoiled grandchildren.

The Southern Public Relations Federation is a network of public relations professionals from Alabama, North Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi who share a common interest in the public relations profession. Membership in the Federation is automatic for members of the Public Relations Council of Alabama (PRCA), the Emerald Coast Public Relations Organization (ECPRO), the Public Relations Association of Louisiana (PRAL), and the Public Relations Association of Mississippi (PRAM).

Past Professional Achievement Award Recipients:

• 2021: Tracy Yanez, APR; PRAM
• 2020: Lesley Bruinton, APR; PRCA
• 2019: Checky Herrington, APR, Fellow PRSA; PRAM
• 2018: Lt. Col. Christian Patterson, APR+M; PRAM
• 2017: Tracie Bertaut, APR; PRAL
• 2016: Kristina L. Hendrix, APR; PRCA
• 2015: Holly Houk Cullen, APR; PRAL
• 2014: Robin Street, APR; PRAM
• 2013: Mary Cracchiolo Spain, APR; PRAM
• 2012: Lea Ivey Stone, APR; PRAM
• 2011: Jennifer Jenkins, APR; PRCA
• 2010: Susan Broussard, APR; PRAL
• 2009: Kristie Aylett, APR, Fellow PRSA; PRAM
• 2008: Glen Duncan, APR; PRAL
• 2007: Denise D’Oliveira, APR; PRCA
• 2006: Suzanne Fornaro, APR; PRCA
• 2005: Michael Tullier, APR; PRCA
• 2004: Carol Mann, APR; PRCA
• 2003: Missy LaBorde, APR; PRAL
• 2002: Delia Adams Taylor, APR; PRAL
• 2001: Deirdre McGowan, Ph.D., APR, CAE; PRAM
• 2000: Sherry Harlow, APR; ECPRO
• 1999: John Forde, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA; PRAM
• 1998: Bill Todd, APR; PRCA
• 1997: Dave Rickey, APR; PRCA
• 1996: Karla Shackleford Conway, APR; PRCA
• 1995: Jamie Palmer, APR; PRCA
• 1994: Rosemary W. Blackmon, APR; PRCA
• 1993: Bill Michelet, APR, Fellow PRSA; PRAL
• 1992: Philip Shirley, APR; PRAM
• 1991: Peri Widener, APR; PRCA