Prof. Don Schultz played a pivotal role in creating the field of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and establishing the IMC department at Medill in the early 1990s. In the early years of the internet, Prof. Schultz foresaw that consumers would be equipped with more information and wield more influence in the oncoming digital age. A true visionary, Prof. Schultz advocated for a marketing communication strategy that began with the customer’s perspective, that adopted a holistic view of media and communications planning across various channels and which could be linked to performance in the marketplace. This was a significant change from the dominant communication paradigms at that time where PR, direct marketing and brand management efforts were disjointed and often with little or no accountability. Marketers all over the world heeded his call and agencies and companies set up whole IMC departments. It is for this reason that Prof. Schultz is fondly regarded all over the world as the ‘father of IMC’. The award will be given to an individual who has shown exceptional ability to teach the concepts of IMC, create new frameworks that align with the principles mentioned above and implement them in practice. A committee comprising of IMC faculty and industry experts will review applications from contenders from all parts of the world. The winner will receive the award and a cash prize of $5,000 and is expected to give a short speech and presentation on their work in Spring 2022. Candidates for this award may either apply or be nominated. All application materials will be due by Friday, October 29, 2021. For questions/concerns, please reach out to Parth Joshi at parth@northwestern.edu