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Contact: Wanda Blair
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International Association of Business Communicators Honors Padilla Speer Beardsley With Five Silver Quills

MINNEAPOLIS - (July 11, 2007) - Padilla Speer Beardsley, an employee-owned, multi-specialty communications firm with headquarters in Minneapolis and an office in New York, has been awarded three Awards of Excellence and two Awards of Merit by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in the annual Silver Quill Awards competition. Padilla competed for the coveted awards with 20 fellow IABC chapters in the Western U.S. including Chicago, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The firm received the Community Relations Award of Excellence for its work with the Itasca Project , a group of business and civic leaders in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area dedicated to maintaining the region's economic competitiveness and quality of life. The firm's "Close the Gap" awareness campaign for the Itasca Project was conducted pro-bono in 2005 and 2006.

"Close the Gap" garnered broad, supportive news coverage and exceeded objectives for business and public participation, including the distribution of 6,000 employer toolkits, a speakers' bureau of 10,000 community leaders and the inclusion of Close the Gap findings in the short- and long- term planning of two city governments and at least one county government.

Padilla also received the Writing Award of Excellence for its work with Rockwell Automation. Padilla developed an 11-page technical article designed to help educate and sell Rockwell's radio frequency identification (RFID) capabilities to its internal sales force, customers and the media.

"I Scream, You Scream for RFID on Ice Cream" resulted in nine trade show presentations and three new customers for Rockwell Automation in three different industries.

The firm was awarded the Publications Award of Excellence for its role in the development of TimberLines, a BASF Professional Vegetation Management publication aimed at forest landowners, consulting foresters and applicators throughout the U.S. Padilla debuted TimberLines in 2003, and the publication quickly became a leading source of information for the forest industry. A 2006 readership survey indicated that 77 percent of TimberLines readers look to the publication for education on the latest trends, technologies and best practices.

Additionally, Padilla was awarded Media Relations Awards of Merit for work on the Minneapolis-based TCF Holidazzle Parade and for the launch of Rockwell Automation's new software brand, FactoryTalk.

"We are honored to work with clients who give us the opportunity to implement creative, strategic and award-winning communications campaigns," said Lynn Casey, Padilla Speer Beardsley chair and chief executive officer.

About the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
Founded in 1970, the International Association of Business Communicators provides a professional network of more than 14,000 business communication professionals in over 70 countries. The Silver Quill Awards honor the best combination of words, creative concepts and strategic thinking in communications. This year's awards competition attracted approximately 156 entries from 10 states throughout the Pacific Plains Region of IABC and entries were judged by seasoned communications professionals from across the nation.

About Padilla Speer Beardsley
Padilla Speer Beardsley is an employee-owned, multi-specialty communications firm with headquarters in Minneapolis and an office in New York. It is a founding partner of the Worldcom Public Relations Group , a consortium of 100 independently owned partner offices in nearly 100 cities in more than 30 countries on six continents. The firm also is a founder of Lumin Collaborative LLC, an intellectual collaborative dedicated to developing next-generation communications solutions. Clients include BASF, Ernst & Young, ev3, General Mills, MetLife, Procter & Gamble, Rockwell Automation, Scholarship America, Transamerica, United Healthcare and Vital Images. The firm's Web site is www.psbpr.com .