Publicists Get Desperate Top PR Campaigns Honored

Hollywood publicists bestowed kudos on their colleagues at the 42nd annual publicists’ awards, held Tuesday, February 22, at the Beverly Hilton.

The top television honor, the Weinberg Award, went to the ABC hit Desperate Housewives, which prevailed over Fox’s Arrested Development, CBS’ Cold Case, King World/Harpo/Paramount’s Dr. Phil and FX’s Nip/Tuck. Among feature films, the Universal team behind the Ray Charles biopic Ray bested Fox’s The Day After Tomorrow, Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles, Paramount’s Mean Girls, Warner Bros.’ The Polar Express and Sony’s Spider-Man 2.

A lifetime achievement honor was granted to actress Julie Andrews, while the group’s Les Mason Award went to Annett Wolf of Wolf-Kasteler-Van Iden & Associates and its Bob Yeager Award for community service was given to Paul Gendreau. The television showmanship award went to CSI producers Carol Mendelsohn, Ann Donahue and Anthony Zuiker; the motion picture showmanship award was given to Fox executives Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos; and Bob Strauss of the Los Angeles Daily News and Australian journalist Jenny Cooney received press awards.