On Tuesday, April 8, the third annual Mississippi Pinnacle Awards Gala took place at the Lake Terrace Convention Center. Hosted by Hattiesburg’s Sales & Marketing Professionals, the gala honored the talents and achievements of ten of our state’s businesses, events, humanitarians, individuals, and organizations.
With over 100 nominees statewide, the award field was narrowed to 38 finalists. These finalists, 18 businesses, 9 events, and 11 individuals, were recognized at the gala, including the top five Mississippi Humanitarians and the top five Mississippi Pinnacle Award Recipients. Each of these 10 prestigious awards is named after beloved local heroes or well-known leaders in the local marketing industry.
This year’s winners of the Pinnacle Humanitarian Awards were:
Lifetime Achievement Award – Maggie Wade, WLBT-TV news anchor and reporter
Oseola McCarty Community Impact Award – The Mississippi Tourism Association
Rising Star Achievement Award – Noah Harris of Oak Grove
Vernon Dahmer Community Engagement Award – Valerie Wilson of Petal
Evelyn Gandy Women’s Leadership Award – William Carey University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Alongside these Mississippi humanitarians, five Mississippi Pinnacle Award winners were announced at the gala for the first time. These five outstanding recipients represented Jefferson Davis County, Oxford, Pascagoula, and Hattiesburg through various marketing campaigns, community events, and hospitality endeavors.
The Jan Lacy Small Town Event Award was presented to Jefferson Davis County’s Economic Development program, Lunch & Learn. Sponsored by a grant from Entergy, this innovative program hosted over 60 community members at the historic Rosenwald School to investigate various economic development ideas and choose those of greatest priority.
Oxford’s Double Decker Arts Festival garnered the Bernice Linton Outstanding Event Award for larger Mississippi cities. For 27 years, visitors of all ages have enjoyed art, and food at this very Southern celebration of the very British double-decker bus imported from England to the historic square in downtown Oxford, Mississippi.
Chevron Refinery of Pascagoula won the Charlie Holt Business Award for several inventive marketing campaigns implemented in 2024, each of which successfully concentrated on brand awareness, as well as promoting a continually cleaner future for the oil and gas industry. “Together We” was one of the most notable of Chevron’s 2024 marketing campaigns., demonstrating how the employees at Chevron’s Pascagoula Refinery work diligently to enhance their community.
Two Hattiesburg-based associations also received Pinnacle Awards. The Southeast Mississippi YMCA was honored with the Bud Kirkpatrick Professional Award for its multi-faceted efforts to increase awareness of the services offered by Family YMCA of Southeast Mississippi, both in the Pine Belt community and beyond. Those efforts included a basketball tournament that raised funds to aid the campus of YMCA Blueridge, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene.
FestivalSouth, the Hattiesburg Concert Association’s largest project, won the Overall Mississippi Pinnacle Award. For 15 years, this premiere festival has offered attendees a multi-week celebration of musical and art-centered performances. Focusing on the expansion of its brand, as well as strategically engaging storytelling, the 2024 planning campaign for FestivalSouth was both an economic and an entertainment success.
Michael Marks, Event Chair for the annual event, remarked on its Pinnacle win: “FestivalSouth is the largest multi-genre arts festival in the Southeast United States. Its economic impact on Mississippi is undeniable, and its popularity continues to grow!”
To learn more about the amazing humanitarians and innovators honored at the Mississippi Pinnacle Awards Gala, go to: salesandmarketingprofessionals.org/press-release-2025-ms-pinnacle-awards.
