A team of 18 senior-level independent practitioners, co-chaired by Sandra Wills Hannon, Ph.D., The Hannon Group Founder, and Rita Mhley, President of Mhley-Davis, received top honors in the 2004 Magellan Awards. The team was honored for the publicity work it has done this past year with the Center for Child Protection and Family Support. The Center, a Washington, DC-based community organization, addresses the effects of child abuse and victimization by providing innovative school-based and parent education programming, along with training and consulting for area professionals. All team members are members of the Independent Public Relations Alliance, a group of over 80 independent public relations practitioners and small business owners in the Washington metropolitan area.

IPRA placed 31st in the top "50 Publicity Campaigns of 2004" category, and received honors in the "Organizational Communications" category of the Awards, which are sponsored by San Diego, Calif.-based League of American Communications Professionals. The Awards are a publicity campaign competition judged in peer-level competitions. This year the competition drew more than 300 entries. The competition class winners can be seen at: http://www.lacp.com/2004magellan/C8.HTM.

"We are honored by this tremendous recognition from our peers," said Sandra Wills Hannon, Ph.D., co-chairman of the IPRA pro-bono committee. "But even more important is the essential work of The Center that we are proud to have been associated with this past year. Child abuse is an issue that needs greater discussion within our communities and among the health care professions."

Visit www.stopchildabusenow.org for more information about the Center.