Society for New Communications Research Announces 2009 Fellows’ Choice Award Winners for Innovator, Visionary, Brand and Humanitarian of the Year

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Society for New Communications Research (http://sncr.org), a global nonprofit research and education foundation and think tank focused on the latest developments in new media and communications and their impact on business, media, culture and society, today announced the Society’s Fellows’ Choice Award winners for the Visionary of the Year, Innovator of the Year, Brand of the Year and Humanitarian of the Year as part of the SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards program.

The 2009 SNCR Fellows Choice Award winners are:

• Visionary of the Year: David Plouffe, President Obama’s campaign adviser, for his successful use of social media communications tools and technologies in the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign strategy
• Innovation of the Year: The Kindle, the popular software and hardware platform developed by Amazon.com subsidiary Lab126 for reading e-books and other digital media
• Brand of the Year: Ford for its innovative use of social media to improve the way the company communicates with its stakeholders
• Humanitarian of the Year: The Iranian Political Bloggers for their courageous use of blogging tools and Twitter to try share their experiences with the world and to try to effect political change in Iran

“The SNCR Fellows have chosen an incredibly impressive variety of individuals and organizations for this year’s award winners. These special award winners have the vision and success to provide a valuable example to others and we are honored to be able to acknowledge them through this awards program,” commented Jen McClure, president, SNCR.

The SNCR Fellows Choice Award recipients will be honored at the 4^th Annual Society for New Communications Research Symposium & Awards Gala, which will be held at the Harvard Faculty Club in Cambridge Mass. November 5^th - 6^th.

In addition, at this gala event, the Society will announce and honor the winners of the SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards (http://sncr.org/awards/). The Society’s prestigious awards program recognizes individuals, corporations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and media outlets that are pioneering the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, online communities, virtual worlds, and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media and professional communications, including marketing, public relations, and advertising as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives. Entrants submit case studies as part of the awards process, and awards are granted in eleven categories: Online Reputation Management, Behind the Firewall, Influencer Relations, External Communications and Communities, Collaboration and Co-creation, New Media Creation, Online Publishing, Mobile Media, Microblogging, Social CRM, and Measurement Innovation. Entries were submitted by organizations from around the world and the winning case studies will be shared and honored at SNCR’s awards gala and published by SNCR.

This event is sponsored in part by SNCR’s Vendor Council members: Business Wire, iContact, Socialtext, Vocus, and WebEx.

For more information and to register to attend this event, visit:

http://www.sncr.org/symposium2009/

About the Society for New Communications Research

The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and education foundation and think tank focused on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society. SNCR is dedicated to creating a bridge between the academic and theoretical pursuit of these topics and the pragmatic implementation of new media and communications tools and methodologies. The Society’s Fellows include a leading group of futurists, scholars, business leaders, professional communicators, members of the media and technologists from around the globe – all collaborating together on research initiatives, educational offerings, and the establishment of standards and best practices. For more information, email us at info@sncr.org or call +1 408.266.9658.