The History of the PeRCy Award

You may have noticed the unusual spelling of the PeRCy award. The name is an acronym that stands for “PR Contest”.
The PeRCy Awards originally ran for approximately 15 years from 1984 to 1999, and was administered by the NJHPRMA (New Jersey Hospital Public Relations and Marketing Society). In their heyday, the PeRCy awards were given to PR/Marketing professionals in a large number of public relations and marketing categories. The awards luncheon was held every spring and attracted between 125-150 attendees from hospital organizations and their agencies. The New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) oversaw the judging process and utilized judges from the Hospital and Healthcare Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) to prevent any favoritism. When the New Jersey Hospital Public Relations and Marketing Society ceased operations in 1999, the awards ended, as well.
In 2004, with the help of NJHA, the New Jersey Hospital Public Relations and Marketing Society transferred its remaining members, funds and assets to HPMSNJ. Three years later our board began the process of re-establishing the awards and, after much discussion, agreed to keep the name because of its positive brand awareness. 2008 Board President, Dr. Anthony Stanowski, asked Norm Tessell to shepherd the program. Norm created and ran the PeRCy’s from 2008 until 2014. Clearly the awards would not have been resurrected if not for all of his hard work.
In 2008, we started out simple, with only 3 awards. Jane Heimbecker of HALO Branded Solutions, was commissioned to produce a crystal award that would reflect the prestige of the PeRCy’s. For 2016, the PeRCy’s have expanded to 10 categories. The categories have evolved to represent the ever-changing methods of advertising.
The PeRCy Awards have become a highly respected honor and HPMSNJ is proud to recognize excellence in health care planning and marketing in the state of New Jersey with this esteemed award.
The PeRCy Awards originally ran for approximately 15 years from 1984 to 1999, and was administered by the NJHPRMA (New Jersey Hospital Public Relations and Marketing Society). In their heyday, the PeRCy awards were given to PR/Marketing professionals in a large number of public relations and marketing categories. The awards luncheon was held every spring and attracted between 125-150 attendees from hospital organizations and their agencies. The New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) oversaw the judging process and utilized judges from the Hospital and Healthcare Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) to prevent any favoritism. When the New Jersey Hospital Public Relations and Marketing Society ceased operations in 1999, the awards ended, as well.
In 2004, with the help of NJHA, the New Jersey Hospital Public Relations and Marketing Society transferred its remaining members, funds and assets to HPMSNJ. Three years later our board began the process of re-establishing the awards and, after much discussion, agreed to keep the name because of its positive brand awareness. 2008 Board President, Dr. Anthony Stanowski, asked Norm Tessell to shepherd the program. Norm created and ran the PeRCy’s from 2008 until 2014. Clearly the awards would not have been resurrected if not for all of his hard work.
In 2008, we started out simple, with only 3 awards. Jane Heimbecker of HALO Branded Solutions, was commissioned to produce a crystal award that would reflect the prestige of the PeRCy’s. For 2016, the PeRCy’s have expanded to 10 categories. The categories have evolved to represent the ever-changing methods of advertising.
The PeRCy Awards have become a highly respected honor and HPMSNJ is proud to recognize excellence in health care planning and marketing in the state of New Jersey with this esteemed award.