Awards
Congratulations EPIC Awards Finalists
View 2025 Finalist gallery
Finalists will receive either an EPIC Award (Top) or an Award of Distinction (2nd) at our 2025 EPIC Awards Luncheon in Napa, CA on April 2.
CAPIO’s EPIC awards program recognizes the most creative and effective efforts in the areas of communication and marketing campaigns, newsletter production, photography, special events, writing, website development and video production.
The EPIC Awards honor work that transcends innovation and craft - work that made a lasting impact, providing an equal chance of winning to all entrants regardless of company or agency size and project budget. If your work moved people, we want to give it a chance to take home an EPIC.
Paul B. Clark Award
The award is presented at the EPIC Awards Dinner during CAPIO’s Annual Conference to the individual who, in the judgment of the CAPIO Board of Directors is a change-maker who demonstrates exceptional leadership and career-long achievement in the field of public information through professional commitment, including the mentoring of others and fostering a greater understanding of the PIO function among colleagues, community and the media.
Scott Summerfield Communicator of the Year Award
The Scott Summerfield Communicator of the Year award is presented to the individual who, in the judgment of the CAPIO Awards Committee and Board of Directors, demonstrates exceptional abilities, skills and talents in leading their organization to greater and more successful communications and public engagement. First established in 2014, the award was renamed the Scott Summerfield Communicator of the Year award in 2025, by President Tom Christensen, honoring Scott’s decades-long involvement and many contributions to CAPIO and its membership.
Frank Potter Cowan Crisis Communications Leader Award
Established in 2017, the Frank Potter Cowan Crisis Communications Leader award recognizes a Public Information Professional (or Team) who demonstrated extraordinary success in leading a team during a natural disaster, act of terrorism, or a reputational crisis during the prior calendar year.
CAPIO developed this award to recognize the men and women who lead teams during a crisis.
Rising Star Award
The Rising Star award will be presented to the individual who, in the judgment of the CAPIO Awards Committee and Board of Directors, demonstrates exceptional abilities, skills and talents in growing their skillset and contributing to the advancement of public engagement and outreach for a public agency in the first five years of their public communications career.