The League of American Communications Professionals LLC (LACP) (http://www.lacp.com) was established in 2001 in order to create a forum within the public relations industry that facilitates discussion of best-in-class practices within the profession while also recognizing those who demonstrate exemplary communications capabilities. As part of this goal, LACP hosts a free monthly newsletter distributed via e-mail and quarterly competitions that target various disciplines within the communications field. Currently, more than 30,000 subscribers receive the monthly newsletter, which shares best practices; provides tools, tips, and resources to professionals; and hosts various forums to discuss industry trends and challenges. The quarterly competitions routinely include hundreds of entries from some of the most recognized organizations throughout the world.

Competition Calendar

Reminders and entry forms can be downloaded at http://www.lacp.com/competition

Competition Period	Competition Name	Details	Winners List	Previous Winners
Spring 2010	2009 Vision Awards Annual Report Competition	Call for Entries: Mar. 1 - May 14, 2010	Winners Announced July 13, 2010	http://www.lacp.com/2008vision
Summer 2010	2010 Spotlight Awards Print, Video & Web Communications Competition	Call for Entries: Jul. 1 - Sep. 14, 2010	Winners Announced October 26, 2010	http://www.lacp.com/2009spotlight
Fall 2010	2010 Magellan Awards Communications Campaign Competition	Call for Entries: Oct. 1 - Nov. 16, 2010	Winners Announced December 21, 2010	http://www.lacp.com/2009magellan
Winter 2010/11	2010 Impact Awards Strategic Communications Competition	Call for Entries: Jan. 1 - Jan. 29, 2011	Winners Announced February 22, 2011	http://www.lacp.com/2009impact
Winter 2010/11	2010 Inspire Awards Internal Communications Competition	Call for Entries: Jan. 1 - Feb. 26, 2011	Winners Announced March 22, 2011	http://www.lacp.com/2009inspire

Narrative Evaluation Services

LACP has a strong reputation for its narrative evaluation services, which focuses on a three-dimensional analysis of communications materials and campaigns. The highlights of the analysis includes:

• A marked-up edition of the materials submitted for review.
• A narrative audio commentary of the judging staff's recommendations.
• A printed executive summary of the staff's perceptions and suggestions.

Details about the service can be found at LACP's web site at http://www.lacp.com/commentary

Best Practices Reports

LACP develops several reports annually that focus on the best practices within certain disciplines. Examples include the annual report best practices report and the employee communications best practices report, both of swhich have become staples within the communications industry. Details about these reports can be found at http://www.lacp.com/catalog

Communications Tools

LACP has developed several tools to benefit professional communicators. These include:

• PR Tools 2008. (http://www.lacp.com/prtools) 25+ PR templates and 60+ "how-to" PR guides on CD.
• 2007 Gift Guide. (http://www.lacp.com/prtools2005/giftguideteaser.htm) 160+ reporter-written story profiles for Christmas/holiday product round-ups.
• LACP Membership. (http://www.lacp.com/membership.htm) See below for details.

Membership

LACP membership is available to communications professionals working at least 20 hours per week. Students and retired PR pros are also eligible. Members gain access to several exclusive tools:

• Online Resource Center. Members tap into to a large library of templates, free for the download in a variety of file formats, that provide guidance and work samples for a wide range of communications activities:

	Corporate	Internal	Product/Service	Planning
Strategic Objectives	Corp. Backgrounder Corporate Overview Corporate Q&A "FastFacts" Message Guide	Message Guide	Message Guide	Campaign Timeline Communications Audit Strategic Plan Outline Organizational Chart Resume
Tactical Objectives	Briefing Book Executive Biography Financial Release Speech Outline	Pub. Schedule Sheet	Launch Release Reviewer's Guide White Paper	Agency Agreement Interview Messaging Job Applicant Test Media Training PR Team Meeting Spokesman's Guide

• Gift Guide Database and E-mail Updates. Members gain a major advantage in placing your products and services in 2007 Christmas/holiday gift guides being compiled by magazines, broadcasters, and newspapers around the nation. LACP's 2007 Gift Guide provides solid leads on exactly who is asking for what. Access a continuously updated database of pitch leads online and receive regularly scheduled e-mail updates as well.

• NEW: PR Salary Guide. Members track PR salaries for positions ranging from specialist to director across 300 regions throughout the U.S.

• Access to 50+ Tools and Resources through SPIN. Many subscribers to SPIN, LACP's free newsletter enjoy its real-world, nuts-and-bolts approach to handling the challenges of the communications profession. LACP members have access to all past issues of SPIN, the hands-on newsletter that delivers the inside track on many important tips and developments within the profession.

• Recognition. Members earn the distinction of being a communications professional committed to continuous advancement and participation in the profession. Members receive a membership certificate, membership card, and reference services.

• Competition Discounts. Members simply write their membership number on their entry form, and we deduct $20 from the overall competition fee for each contest entered.

• Evaluation Services Discounts. Members also enjoy a $50 discount on narrative evaluation services.

• Lexicon Online. Members access the comprehensive edition of LACP's Lexicon for the Communications Professional. Adapted from LACP's monthly newsletter.

• PR Tools. Members can discover what tools offered online can help you become more productive, further develop your skill set, and find the information you need.

• Contact LACP. Members receive priority support from LACP.

Participating Organizations

Eight of the 10 largest members of the Fortune 500

Fortune 500

The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...

 have participated in LACP competitions. Those in the Top 100 include:

Exxon Mobil (1) ∙ Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

 (2) ∙ Ford Motor (5) ∙ GE

Gê

Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....

 (7) ∙ Citigroup

Citigroup

Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...

 (8) ∙ AIG

AIG

AIG is American International Group, a major American insurance corporation.AIG may also refer to:* And-inverter graph, a concept in computer theory* Answers in Genesis, a creationist organization in the U.S.* Arta Industrial Group in Iran...

 (9) ∙ IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 (10) ∙ HP

Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...

 (11) ∙ Bank of America

Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

 (12) ∙ Home Depot (14) ∙ McKesson

McKesson

McKesson Corporation is the largest health care company in the world, with sales of $106.6 billion in 2009.McKesson is based in the United States and distributes health care systems, medical supplies and pharmaceutical products...

 (16) ∙ Verizon (18) ∙ Altria (20) ∙ State Farm

State Farm Insurance

State Farm Insurance is a group of insurance and financial services companies in the United States. The company also has operations in Canada....

  (22) ∙ P&G (24) ∙ Dell

Dell

Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...

 (25) ∙ Boeing

Boeing

The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...

 (26) ∙ Costco

Costco

Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...

 (28) ∙ Pfizer

Pfizer

Pfizer, Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation. The company is based in New York City, New York with its research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut, United States...

 (31) ∙ J&J (32) ∙ MetLife (35) ∙ Wellpoint

WellPoint

WellPoint, Inc. is the largest health plan company in the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. It was formed when WellPoint Health Networks, Inc. merged into Anthem, Inc., with the surviving Anthem adopting the name, WellPoint, Inc...

 (38) ∙ AT&T

AT&T

AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

 (39) ∙ Time Warner

Time Warner

Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

 (40) ∙ Lowe’s (42) ∙ United Technologies (43) ∙ Walgreen

Walgreen

Walgreen is the anglicised form of Wahlgren, and may refer to:* Charles Rudolph Walgreen* Charles Rudolph Walgreen, Jr.* The Walgreens, aka The Walgreen Company ** Walgreens Health Services , a business unit of Walgreens...

 (45) ∙ Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...

 (46) ∙ Intel (49) ∙ Lockheed

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....

 (52) ∙ Motorola

Motorola

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...

 (54) ∙ Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc.

Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...

 (55) ∙ Archer Daniels Midland

Archer Daniels Midland

The Archer Daniels Midland Company is a conglomerate headquartered in Decatur, Illinois. ADM operates more than 270 plants worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial and animal feed markets worldwide.ADM was named the...

 (56) ∙ Allstate

Allstate

The Allstate Corporation is the second-largest personal lines insurer in the United States and the largest that is publicly held. The company also has personal lines insurance operations in Canada. Allstate was founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., and was spun off in 1993...

 (58) ∙ Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel Corporation is an American telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas. The company owns and operates Sprint, the third largest wireless telecommunications network in the United States, with 53.4 million customers, behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...

 (59) ∙ Lehman

Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

 (62) ∙ Disney (63) ∙ Prudential

Prudential Financial

The Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...

 (64) ∙ Sysco

SYSCO

Sysco Corporation is the global leader in marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, hotels and inns, and other foodservice and hospitality businesses...

 (68) ∙ American Express

American Express

American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...

 (69) ∙ DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

 (73) ∙ Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls, Inc. is a company, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded in 1885 by professor Warren S. Johnson, inventor of the first electric room thermostat....

 (75) ∙ Delphi (77) ∙ Hartford

The Hartford

The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. , usually known as The Hartford, is a Fortune 500 company and one of America’s largest investment and insurance companies...

 (78) ∙ Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods, Inc. is a multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork only behind Brazilian JBS S.A., and annually exports the largest percentage of beef out of...

 (80) ∙ Cisco

Cisco

Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...

  (83) ∙ HCA

Hospital Corporation of America

Hospital Corporation of America is the largest private operator of health care facilities in the world, It is based in Nashville, Tennessee and is widely considered to be the single largest factor in making that city a hotspot for healthcare enterprise.-History:The founders of HCA include Jack C....

 (84) ∙ Federated (87) ∙ Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

 (89) ∙ Aetna

Aetna

Aetna, Inc. is an American health insurance company, providing a range of traditional and consumer directed health care insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmaceutical, dental, behavioral health, group life, long-term care, and disability plans, and medical management...

 (91) ∙ MassMutual (92) ∙ Abbott

Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories is an American-based global, diversified pharmaceuticals and health care products company. It has 90,000 employees and operates in over 130 countries. The company headquarters are in Abbott Park, North Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded by Chicago physician, Dr....

 (93) ∙ Comcast

Comcast

Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 (94) ∙ Merck

Merck & Co.

Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...

 (95) ∙ Raytheon

Raytheon

Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...

 (97) ∙ Nationwide

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company & Affiliated Companies is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus...

 (98) ∙ Washington Mutual

Washington Mutual

Washington Mutual, Inc. , abbreviated to WaMu, was a savings bank holding company and the former owner of Washington Mutual Bank, which was the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008....

(99)

External links

• Official website