Andrew Conte Receives PR Disruption Award from PRSA Pittsburgh Friday, February 14, 2025

(L-R) Nick Tommarello, Center for Media Innovation graduate assistant, Marlin Collingwood, vice president of enrollment management and marketing, Kathy Buechel, executive director of The Benter Foundation, Anthony Durzo, Point Park student, Tania Miller Conte, Andrew Conte, assistant vice president and CMI managing director and alumna Emily Kolek, communications manager at WesBanco.

(L-R) Nick Tommarello, CMI graduate assistant, Marlin Collingwood, Point Park University's vice president of enrollment management and marketing, Kathy Buechel, executive director of The Benter Foundation, Anthony Durzo, Point Park student, Mrs. Tania Miller Conte, Andrew Conte, assistant vice president and CMI managing director, and alumna Emily Kolek, communications manager at WesBanco.

PRSA Pittsburgh recognized Andrew Conte, Ph.D., assistant vice president and managing director of the Center for Media Innovation (CMI), with the PR Disruption Award at the annual Renaissance Awards, held Jan. 30 at Fairmont Pittsburgh. The award honors a person, organization or team that challenges the industry's status quo.

Steve Radick, PRSA Pittsburgh's 2024 president and EVP at Burson, said Conte exists at the forefront and future of journalism and is the yin to PR's yang.

"Every PR pro in and around Pittsburgh owes a debt of gratitude to you, the CMI, the Pittsburgh Media Partnership and the Next Generation Newsroom for creating an environment where hundreds of local journalists are researching, curating and telling the stories that our companies, nonprofits, governments and clients want to tell," said Radick.

As a result, Radick said Conte has created a new ecosystem for PR in Pittsburgh and is most deserving of the PR Disruption Award.

"This ecosystem is rooted in traditional journalistic values and is one where PR pros again have access to real journalists telling real stories, not influencers creating content for the higher bidder," he said. "In disrupting one industry, you have created a ripple effect that's disrupting the way the PR pros work, too."

Andrew Conte receives the PR Disruption Award at the Renaissance Awards ceremony. — Andrew Conte accepts the PR Disruption Award at PRSA Pittsburgh's Renaissance Awards.

Conte said he is grateful to accept the award on behalf of the CMI and pleased to play a role in this vital work for the health of the region and its residents.

"This award recognizes the efforts we put in every day to support, maintain and regrow Pittsburgh's local news ecosystem," said Conte. "The real work takes place at the many news outlets large and small across the 10 counties of southwestern Pennsylvania where journalists report what happens for those communities they cover."

Last fall, Conte and the CMI hosted Newsapalooza at Point Park, a first-of-its-kind event to celebrate all things local journalism, as well as the launch of the Next Generation Newsroom, which fills the gap in local reporting and serves six million readers through its 29 regional publishing partners. Newsapalooza 2025 is scheduled for November 20-21 at the University's Pittsburgh Playhouse.

"The work we do involves responding to the many changes that have happened to local information networks over the past two decades, so it's nice to be seen in this case as someone who is disrupting the disruption."