Trinis named PR pioneers in Jamaica

Meeks was among a group of four “Public Sector PR Trailblazers” and Erskine, one of seven “IABC Caribbean PR Pioneers” honoured at an awards dinner at Kingston’s Terra Nova Hotel, hosted under the patronage of Jamaica’s Governor General Kenneth Hall and Rheima Holding Hall. Guest speaker was IABC Intl World President, Julie Freeman, ABC, APR.

Meeks, a graduate of St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain and Canada’s McGill University who joined Jamaica’s Government Public Relations Office (GPRO) in 1958 during the tenure of then premier Norman Manley, was lauded for her work at this and subsequent government communication agencies including the Agency for Public Information and the Jamaica Information Service. She has been credited with conceptualising and overseeing the publication of a number of pamphlets and brochures including a series on historical, social and cultural aspects of Jamaican society. She also managed the communications programme in 1968 in support of the changing of the Jamaican currency from pounds, shilling and pence to dollars and cents. Meeks recently retired as Co-director of Creative Projects, a private PR consultancy firm.