PR Newswire today announced the winners of the 2012 Earnies Awards, the community-chosen awards program designed to honor innovativeearned media campaigns executed through the various social media channels. 
For its second year, PR Newswire increased the number of categories, offering brands and organizations more opportunities to submit their work and showcase their successes. After all submissions were reviewed by a panel of judges, the broader community was invited to help select the winners from a shortlist of finalists. Public voting was open for a span of two weeks and brought in nearly 2,500 votes. Voters were encouraged to consider strategy, creativity, results and overall 'awesomeness' of the campaign.
“We were extremely impressed with the caliber of work that was submitted to our Earnies program this year. It is a testament to the fact that PR professionals and marketers are truly pushing creative boundaries and thinking outside the box to successfully connect with their audiences and drive business results,” said Meryl Serouya , manager, marketing & communications, PR Newswire. “It is also rewarding to see such high interaction and engagement from the broader community and we are thankful for everyone who voted and helped select the winners.”
The winners are:
The Earnies Grand Prix:
The Advertising Council
Campaign: “FWD Campaign” by the Ad Council and USAID
Best Use of Video in Social Media:
LatentView Analytics
Campaign: Confessions of a Serial Analyst
Best Connection to Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook Audience:
New Media Strategies
Campaign: Engaging the casual wine buyer: The Wine Bar Facebook Community
We Can't Believe That Worked!:
New Media Strategies
Campaign: ACCCE “Click-to-Call” Grassroots Advocacy
Best Use of Social Listening for Campaign Planning:
General Electric
Campaign: HealthyShare: Surprise & Delight
Best Visual Campaign through Pinterest or Instagram:
Fathom
ConsumerCrafts Back-to-School Crafter's Challenge
Best Use of an Infographic:
Cisco Systems
Campaign: The Internet of Things
Best Global Communications Campaign:
Tourico Holidays, Inc
Campaign: Best Hotel Promotion Combined with a Worthy Cause!
Best Integrated Campaign on a Shoestring Budget:
Gutterglove
Campaign: Gutterglove Brings China Manufacturing Back to California
Best Piece of Branded Content:
CSC
Campaign: Connected Consumer
About PR Newswire:
PR Newswire is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 59 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content — from rich media to online video to multimedia — and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company.