FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Wanda Blair
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Padilla Speer Beardsley named finalist for prestigious Silver Anvil award

MINNEAPOLIS - (March, 2008) - Padilla Speer Beardsley, a multi-specialty communications firm with offices in Minneapolis and New York City, has been named a finalist for the Silver Anvil Award in the special events category by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). The nomination recognizes the firm's work in showcasing the opening of Gold Medal Park - the largest public green space added to downtown Minneapolis in more than a century.

PRSA selected 108 Silver Anvil finalists from the 875 entries this year. The annual award is bestowed on organizations that have successfully addressed a contemporary issue with exemplary professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness. Programs that receive the award meet the highest standards of performance in the public relations profession, incorporating sound research, planning, execution and evaluation.

"We were honored to help the City of Minneapolis celebrate this new jewel on the Mississippi River," said Lynn Casey, Padilla Speer Beardsley chair and chief executive officer. "We're proud that our creative communications strategies drew well-deserved attention to this important public asset."

The Public Relations Society of America (www.prsa.org), with headquarters in New York City, is the world's largest organization for public relations professionals, with nearly 32,000 professional and student members. PRSA is organized into 109 Chapters nationwide and 19 Professional Interest Sections and Affinity Groups, which represent business and industry, counseling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and nonprofit organizations. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has 291 Chapters at colleges and universities throughout the United States and one Chapter in Argentina.

About Padilla Speer Beardsley
Padilla Speer Beardsley is an employee-owned, multi-specialty communications consulting firm with headquarters in Minneapolis and an office in New York City. It is a founding partner of the Worldcom Public Relations Group, a consortium of 100 independently owned firms in nearly 100 cities on six continents. Padilla also is a founder of Lumin Collaborative LLC, an intellectual collaborative dedicated to developing next-generation communications solutions. Clients include BASF, Cub Foods, Ernst & Young, General Mills, HB Fuller, Rockwell Automation, Transamerica, UnitedHealthcare and Vital Images. The firm's Web site is www.psbpr.com.