Established in 2020 to honour the life and career of Heather Pullen, MCM, APR, FCPRS, the Heather Pullen Memorial Award for Ethical Public Relations was created to recognize outstanding commitment to ethical public relations. This Award celebrates an accredited Canadian public relations professional who has demonstrated a commitment to upholding and advancing the values outlined in the CPRS Code of Professional Standards, and has practised public relations to the highest professional standards of honesty, accuracy, integrity and truth, and in alignment with the public interest and dignity of the individual.

2022 Recipient - Christine Szutaczek, APR

Previous Recipients

2020 Honouree - Heather Pullen, MCM, APR, FCPRS

Heather Pullen was an accredited public relations professional whose career spanned journalism, corporate communications and academia. During her career she worked as an educator and communications consultant based in Hamilton. She was manager of Public Relations at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) for 13 years, which she joined in 2002 after working for 10 years as a public relations consultant specializing in healthcare communications. Prior to that she was a member of the public relations department at The Toronto Hospital (Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals), and before that, a producer at CBC Radio. 

"Throughout her career, Heather showed great leadership in ethical public relations. She demonstrated a commitment to the betterment of the organizations she served, the public interest and the profession by seeking mutually-beneficial outcomes. Heather authentically 'walked the talk', and personified the highest standards of transparency, ethics and integrity."
- Victor Vrsnik, MCM, APR, FCPRS - CPRS National President (2019-2020).