Schnake, Walsh Branding, Brothers & Co. top ADDY awards

On Saturday, Tulsa public relations pioneer Charles Schnake was honored with a Silver ADDY for his continued leadership in the industry.

More than 200 individuals from the local advertising and media community attended the 2009 ADDY Awards presented by the Tulsa Advertising Federation at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. The annual awards recognize advertising creative excellence.

Brothers & Co. led the show with 19 ADDY awards, followed by Walsh Branding with nine, and Littlefield with seven.

The event's top honors went to Walsh Branding for "Best of Show-Print" for its QuikTrip 50th Anniversary Box Set Top, while the "Best of Show-Electronic" winner was Brothers & Co. for the Child Passenger Safety Seat Awareness television commercial.

The judges also designated several special awards. David Clark Design won "Most Unique Concept and Graphic Design" for the Children's Village at OU-Tulsa brochure. Cubic won the "Tastiest Packaging" for Marshall Brewing Co. beer labels, and the "Best Overall Campaign" was awarded to Brothers & Co. for the OERB Safety Campaign.

And Third Floor Design at the University of Tulsa received the Eddy award for outstanding service to the advertising industry.

Of the 527 entries received by the Tulsa Advertising Federation, 62 ADDY Awards and 157 Citations of Excellence were presented. Entries were judged based on creativity, originality, and creative strategy.

Schnake began his career in 1955 at a Tulsa public relations-advertising firm, later joining Sunray DX Oil Co. In 1970 he left Sunray to open his own public relations firm, Management Communications Inc., and two years later renamed it Schnake and Associates.

In the early 1980s, Schnake merged his firm with Steve Turnbo's public relations practice to create Schnake Turnbo and Associates. More than 20 years later, Schnake Turnbo Frank | PR has become Oklahoma's largest and most-experienced public relations firm.

Third Floor Design, directed by M. Teresa Valero, is a unique internship program that offers students the opportunity to work on professional design assignments in their junior and senior years. Founded in 1992, the program — named after the design and computer graphics lab on the third floor of the Phillips Hall art building — matches student designers with clients from the Tulsa nonprofit community. Assignments range from small jobs to full-scale annual reports, including the design of posters, logos, letterheads, brochures, corporate identity items, T-shirts and magazines. Students leave the Third Floor Design internship program with professional-quality portfolios and have found great success in job placement.

The TAF also announced its scholarships for 2009. Recipients include Jenna Schario, a public relations and advertising major at Oral Roberts University and editor for the Communique; Maggie Rutsch, a TU graphic design major and member of the school's National Student Advertising competition team; and Jaclyn Shelton, a TU marketing and advertising major who serves as a student member of the TAF board.