Ponte Vedra, Fla., Aug. 7, 2018— Marion County Public Schools Director of Public Relations & Multimedia Productions Kevin Christian, APR, CPRC has been awarded the prestigious Doris Fleischman Award from the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA).
The Doris Fleischman Award is intended to honor the 
heretofore-unrecognized contributions an individual FPRA member has made to the public relations profession and/or to FPRA. In essence, this is an “unsung” hero award intended to reward that individual who consistently provides support and assistance to the Association.
FPRA asks each of its 15 chapters to submit nominations for this honor. The Ocala Chapter submitted the following narrative to nominate Christian to receive the recognition based on the characteristics of the award’s namesake, Doris Fleischman.
On behalf of the board of directors for the Ocala Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association, we proudly nominate Kevin Christian, APR, CPRC for the 2018 Doris Fleischman Award.
Trailblazer– Doris Fleischman may have been behind the scenes, but she took risks when necessary to advance the profession. As president of the Ocala chapter in 2013-14, Kevin Christian, APR, CPRC took a significant risk. The Ocala Chapter website was very outdated and managed completely by code. This made updates challenging and the only member able to manage it was not easily accessible. This was not acceptable to Kevin. He felt as the County’s top communicators, the Ocala Chapter should have a website reflective of the caliber of its members. He led his board through the daunting task of migrating content and developing a new website. The web design fee was a significant investment for the chapter. He, no doubt, had some questioning his judgement. Somewhere amidst all the hustle and bustle–and financial stress of his presidency–Kevin managed to earn his CPRC! The new site was a hit, garnering the FPRA President’s Award in Communication in 2014. Since that time, his dedication to our chapter has been unwavering.
Skilled– Immediate Past President is supposed to be the easy role, right? He was an anchor and solid support for the president following in his footsteps. That could have been his time to quietly slip out and take a break. Instead, he stepped up to chair the Advanced Communicator Enrichment Series (ACES) program. During that year, the president moved, pushing the president-elect, his former treasurer, into the presidency six months early. Kevin agreed to remain in his role as immediate past president on the board for another term (2015-16), while coordinating 12 monthly, ACES programs that year. He ran ACES like a charm with engaging roundtable conversations, out-of-town guests and thought provoking current event topics of the day, Kevin was certain to include tremendous opportunities for our seasoned members in all sessions. During the fabulous 2016 Mid-Florida Local Image Awards held at the Reilly Arts Center, Kevin’s emcee skills were over-shadowed by his musical talents behind the exquisite baby grand on the stage. The prelude for guests entering was as if they were coming in to Carnegie Hall. Music during dinner was captivating. Despite performing, Kevin humbly bowed credit to the beauty of the stage and the baby grand he said he was honored to play.
Committed– During the 2016-17 year, Kevin served as our chapter’s chair of Accreditation, a role in which he currently serves and has just agreed to serve in that capacity for yet a third term for 2018-19. It was a challenging time as to serve the Ocala Chapter’s accreditation bench was pretty deep. He persisted with leadership, guidance, and study sessions, despite no APRs that year. This year one Ocala APR and a Lake County member he mentored have received their APR and he currently has several others in the process of sitting for their exams as well.
When the UAB reached out to APRs to participate in item-writing and technical reviews for the APR Examination, Kevin jumped at the chance. He wrote questions and participated in the review process, which are both critical to the integrity of the accreditation process.
Additionally, this year, Kevin served as the co-chair for the Chapter’s Wilton F. Martin Communicator of the Year awards. Now in the 13th year, Kevin was the second recipient of the honor in 2006, before he was an FPRA member.
Humble– Kevin has continued to grow his involvement and commitment to FPRA. He encourages and mentors others to do the same. The spirit of Doris Fleischman was one of being in the background, not getting much attention for the work she did to ensure her husband’s PR success. Kevin Christian, APR, CPRC is a gentleman, humbly operating behind the scenes for our chapter. Yet, when called upon, without hesitation, he will come out from behind the curtain to take the stage, not for his glory, but for the good of the chapter. We are honored to nominate Kevin for this honor he so richly deserves.
The Ocala Chapter meets the third Friday of each month at 11:45 in the teleconference room of the Ewers Century Center at the College of Central Florida. For additional information on the Ocala Chapter Name of FPRA please call Ocala Chapter Communications Director Ginger Broslat, APR, CPRC at 352-861-0252.
The Florida Public Relations Association is dedicated to developing public relations practitioners who, through ethical and standardized practices, enhance the public relations profession in Florida. The organization’s 15 professional and 12 student chapters provide professional development, networking and recognition opportunities for nearly 1,200 members across the state. FPRA is the nation’s oldest public relations organization, established by Lt. Col. John Dillin, APR, CPRC in 1938. For more information, visit www.fpra.org.
