D.C. Public Relations Expert Ofield Dukes Wins Gold Anvil Award

Jet, Oct 8, 2001

Highlighting a 32-year public relations career, Ofield Dukes was named the winner of the Gold Anvil award, the highest individual honor of the nation's Public Relations Society of America.

The owner of a firm beating his name in Washington, D.C., Dukes is the first Black to win the award.

He will be presented the award during the Public Relations Society of America 2001 international conference in Atlanta October 27-30.

There will be a special presentation of the award at a Washington luncheon at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Nov. 16, with honorary hosts who include Vernon E. Jordan, Dr. Dorothy Height, Dr. C. Delores Tucker and Cathy Hughes.

During his successful career, Dukes helped in organizing the first dinner of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and has served on the CBC Foundation for 14 years.

He has been instrumental in organizing the public relations curriculum at Howard University, where he served as an adjunct professor for 17 years. He served on the board of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and has advised a number of civil rights leaders, including Dr. Leon Sullivan, Mrs. Coretta Scott King and Myrlie Evers.

He is the founder-president of the Black Public Relations Society in Washington and serves as an adjunct professor at American University.

The Public Relations Society of America is the world's largest professional organization for public relations professionals with nearly 20,000 members organized into 110 chapters nationwide.