President of Global Alliance and Irish business leader honoured in USA with top global award for lifetime achievement in international public relations

Justin Green, President of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management and CEO of Wide Awake Communications in Dublin, Ireland, has been honoured by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) with their Atlas Award for Lifetime Achievement in International Public Relations.

He received the prestigious award today (Mon, 21 Oct) at the PRSA’s international conference in San Diego, California which he is addressing along with keynote speakers including Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward and the former President of Mexico, Vicente Fox.

The first Irish recipient of the prestigious award, Mr Green has been President since July of Global Alliance, representing more than 280,000 professionals in 126 countries. He is also a past President of the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII).

PRSA is the leading professional organisation for communicators in the United States with more than 30,000 members. The judging criteria applied by the PRSA’s Honors & Awards Committee for the Atlas Award include Professional Achievements; Contributions to the Profession and Service to Professional Organisations.

The Society’s Chair, Debra Peterson APR, said: “The Atlas Award for Lifetime Achievement recognises a public relations practitioner who has made extraordinary contributions to the practice and profession of public relations in an international environment over the span of their career. We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding contribution that Justin Green continues to make to our profession globally. Justin is a leader with great vision and drive who is deeply committed to enhancing world standards, education and best practices in public relations.”

Thanking the PRSA, Justin Green said: “I’m delighted and honoured to receive this great award and see it as a recognition I share with all those I’ve worked with over the years to advance public relations across countries and continents. While this is an individual award, I consider myself to be accepting it on behalf of Global Alliance, African Public Relations Association, Public Relations Society of Kenya, Brazilian Association for Business Communication and the Public Relations Institute of Ireland who have generously recognised my contribution previously. I am also particularly proud to accept the award as it reflects positively on our profession in Ireland which has produced some exceptional leaders.”

While he has worked across a wide range of campaigns for a diverse portfolio of international clients, Justin’s primary professional focus is on live entertainment. For more than 20 years, he was Public Relations & Communications Director with MCD, one of the largest music promoters in Europe.

He also contributed to the successful Irish visits of Pope Francis, Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. In addition, he has advised a range of Irish, European and African public agencies on crisis management, media relations and the safe and successful delivery of large-scale public events.

In addition to Wide Awake Communications which he founded in 2011, he is a director of public relations agencies in both Kenya and Nigeria. There, clients include the World Bank, United Nations, Competition Authority of Kenya, European Union, African Union, Diageo, Google and Vodafone.

As part of his professional leadership, he has produced a number of publications, most notably ‘Let’s Celebrate’ which examined the cultural and economic impact of live entertainment.

Awarded the PRII’s Life Fellowship in 2016, Justin is a Global Ambassador and Life Fellow of both the African Public Relations Association and the Public Relations Society of Kenya. Earlier this year, the Brazilian Association for Business Communication awarded him an Honorary Life Fellowship in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the profession.