TPRA Honors Texas Hospital Association With 2010 Lone Star Award

AUSTIN (March 18, 2010) – The Texas Public Relations Association, a statewide organization of professional public relations practitioners, named the Texas Hospital Association as recipient of its highest corporate honor, the Lone Star Award.

THA President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Stultz, M.D., FACP, FACHE, and Ann Ward, APR, senior vice president of corporate communications for THA, accepted the award during TPRA’s annual awards gala, March 5 in Austin.

“It is an honor to receive this award, especially from an organization as prestigious as TPRA,” Stultz said. “THA is honored to be the first association to receive this recognition. Public relations is important to our members and has contributed to THA’s success in the public policy arena.”

The Lone Star Award is only presented in years when the TPRA board of directors finds a deserving nominee. The award recognizes a company that places a high priority on its public relations and values both the function as a key management strategy and the public relations practitioners it employs as major contributors to the success of the organization. The company also must exemplify outstanding ethics and operations in its dealing with all its constituencies. Previous Lone Star Award winners include the Dallas Cowboys, Dell Inc., RadioShack Corporation, Southwest Airlines Co. and Valero Energy Corporation, among others.

“During my 25 years with the Texas Hospital Association, the organization’s boards of trustees, executives and senior management team have supported public relations activities with their involvement as well as resources,” Ward said. “This award recognizes their leadership as well as THA’s talented public relations and marketing professionals.” 

• A Silver Spur Award (Partnership Campaign) for the Texas Nursing Workforce Shortage Coalition’s “Texas Needs Nurses” campaign;
• A Best of Texas Silver Award (Special Writing Project) for the 2009 THA membership brochure and its companion testimonial brochure; and
• A Best of Texas Bronze Award (Brochure) for the HOSPAC membership brochure.

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About Texas Hospital Association
Founded in 1930, the Texas Hospital Association is the leadership organization and principal advocate for the state’s hospitals and health care systems. Based in Austin, THA enhances its members’ abilities to improve accessibility, quality and cost-effectiveness of health care for all Texans. One of the largest hospital associations in the country, THA represents more than 85 percent of the state’s hospitals and health care systems, which employ some 355,000 health care professionals statewide. To learn more, visit www.tha.org  or follow THA on Twitter at http://twitter.com/texashospitals.