New York, NY (December 7, 2017) — On Thursday, December 7, the 2017 Pearl Awards were presented by The Content Council at its all-new winter conference presented by Good Housekeeping and held at Hearst Tower in New York City. The Pearl Awards, the longest running content marketing awards program in the United States, celebrated the best in content marketing from organizations worldwide. This year 83 companies, representing 170 different brands across 19 different countries, submitted entries, making it a true global competition.

“Each year, we celebrate and honor excellence in content marketing across a wide variety of industry sectors and media platforms. This year’s entries were exceptional and represent the best in content marketing from around the globe”, said Jacqueline Loch, Chair of The Content Council. “With marketers now spending nearly 30% of annual marketing budgets on content marketing, content is a key part of every marketing and media strategy.”

Experts judged entries from leading brands, publishers and agencies on overall effectiveness, creativity and editorial excellence. A list of the winners from this year’s Pearl Awards can be found here.

The Pearl Awards also recognize the personal achievements of several remarkable content marketing professionals. This year’s individual award winners include:

John Caldwell Award: Keith Sedlak, Executive Director, Business Development, MXM
As Executive Director, Keith brings more than 20 years of business development experience and a proven track record of growth and reinvention back to MXM, where his content marketing career began. Keith has been a huge support to The Content Council, having previously served as Chair and Treasurer. Read more about Keith here.

Content Innovator of the Year Award: Ken Kaplan, Executive Editor, iQ by Intel
Ken Kaplan is executive editor, iQ by Intel, a digital tech culture magazine that profiles innovators and innovations changing our world. He has led the editorial direction of iQ since 2013, making it more journalistic and relevant to audiences that are important to Intel. Read more about Ken here.

Best Content Director: Maryam Sanati, Editorial Director, St. Joseph Media’s Strategic Content Labs
Maryam Sanati is editorial director of Strategic Content Labs, St. Joseph Media in Toronto. In her role, Maryam leads a diverse range of consumer, custom, exhibition and experiential content programs and audience engagement strategies. Read more about Maryam here.

Best Creative Director: Nicole O’Toole, Creative Director, John Brown Media
Nicole O'Toole is a creative director at John Brown Media U.S., where she oversees design and photography across print and digital mediums—following each project through from ideation to post-production. Read more about Nicole here.

Rising Star: Erin Madsen, Vice President, Content, MSP-C
Erin has spent the last 5 1/2 years at MSP-C building and executing world-class content strategies for a Fortune 200 consumer packaged goods corporation, and most recently, the country’s first online university and a Fortune 10 healthcare company. Read more about Erin here.

As part of the awards ceremony, The Content Council also incorporated a vibrant group of speakers and panelists who addressed the risks and rewards of content marketing excellence. Innovators from GE, Vimeo, and Bank of America, among others, provided their perspective on how to create and distribute award-winning content within the framework of an evolving industry.

For more information about the Content Council and the Pearl Awards, visit http://thecontentcouncil.org/Pearl-Awards. Photos from last night’s event can be found here or by following The Content Council on Twitter: @ContentCouncil. Use the hashtag #PearlAwardsNY2017 to see all the fun.