NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PR Newswire today announced the finalists and opened up public voting of  'The Earnies,' the first community-chosen awards program recognizing innovative earned media campaigns executed through social media channels.

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"The practice of PR has dramatically changed and communications professionals are forced to think outside the box and reimagine their earned media strategies to effectively connect with their audiences," said Rachel Meranus, vice president, marketing and communications, PR Newswire.  "This year's Earnies finalists - which represent a range of industries - utilized a number of creative tactics to drive campaign success, and we are excited to see which stand out as the community favorites and become the winners."

Community voting is open to the public for a span of two weeks, ending Wednesday, February 20^th.  Voters can select their favorites in each category by visiting the AGILITY@work site and should follow @AgilityAtWork on Twitter for program updates and final announcement of the winners.  Winners will be announced by the end of the month.

Entries were judged based on strategy, creativity, results and overall 'awesomeness' of the campaigns. Up to three finalists were named in each of the following categories:

The Earnies Grand Prix

• The Advertising Council – "FWD Campaign" by the Ad Council and USAID
• General Electric – HealthyShare: Surprise and Delight
• Gutterglove – Gutterglove Brings China Manufacturing Back to California

To learn more about the "Earnies Grand Prix" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

Best Connection to Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook Audience

• New Media Strategies – Engaging the Casual Wine Buyer: The Wine Bar Facebook Community
• Summertime Entertainment's Dorothy of Oz – Totally Toto Tuesdays
• Magic Software Enterprises – Magic's Rebranded Facebook Page Gained Over 50k Followers

To learn more about the "Best Connection to Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook Audience" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

Best Integrated Campaign on a Shoestring Budget

• Cleveland Metroparks Zoo – Zoo Olympics
• Wunderman Seattle – Halo 4 Key Art Reveal
• Gutterglove – Gutterglove Brings China Manufacturing Back to California

To learn more about the "Best Integrated Campaign on a Shoestring Budget" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

Best Piece of Branded Content

• CSC – Connected Consumer
• Huddle Productions – Bud Light Bands
• New Media Strategies – ACCCE

To learn more about the "Best Piece of Branded Content" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

Best Use of an Infographic

• Cisco – The Internet of Things
• Cisco – Worklife Cloud
• PriceGrabber.com – Back-to-School Shopping Forecast and Consumer Trends

To learn more about the "Best Use of an Infographic" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

Best Use of Video in Social Media:

• Cleveland Metroparks Zoo – Ele's Day Off
• Cody Westheimer – Kona IRONMAN World Championship
• LatentView Analytics – Confessions of a Serial Analyst

To learn more about the "Best Use of Video in Social Media" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

Best Visual Campaign through Pinterest or Instagram

• RA Sushi Bar Restaurant – RA on Pinterest
• Fathom – ConsumerCrafts Back-To-School Crafter's Challenge

To learn more about the "Best Visual Campaign through Pinterest or Instagram" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

We Can't Believe That Worked!

• General Electric – HealthyShare: Surprise and Delight
• Cleveland Metroparks Zoo – Live Tweeting
• New Media Strategies – ACCCE "Click-to-Call" Grassroots Advocacy

To learn more about the "We Can't Believe That Worked!" entries and to cast your vote, click here.

Public voting will not be open for the two remaining categories, "Best Global Communications Campaign" and "Best Use of Social Listening for Campaign Planning" due to a lack of qualified entries. Winners will be announced in these categories when the all of the Earnies winners are announced.

About PR Newswire:
PR Newswire is the premier global provider of multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, sustainability officers, public affairs and investor relations officers to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry 58 years ago, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, optimize and target content — from rich media to online video to multimedia — and then distribute content and measure results across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel, multi-cultural content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, PR Newswire enables the world's enterprises to engage opportunity everywhere it exists. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company.

Media Contacts:

Meryl Serouya
Marketing & Communications Manager
201-360-6009
Meryl.Serouya@prnewswire.com 

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