Leong with 2025 PRSA Chair Ray, APR, and Stagwell vice chair, and Allison Worldwide executive chair.
Today, Grace T. Leong, MBA, APR, Fellow PRSA, CEO of HUNTER, received PRSA’s highest individual honor — the Gold Anvil Award — during the ICON 2025 Conference in Washington, D.C.
The award recognizes lifetime achievement in public relations and celebrates practitioners who have made outstanding contributions to advancing the profession.
A 37-year PRSA member, Leong has spent her career elevating the strategic role of public relations for some of the world’s largest brands while building HUNTER into one of the industry’s most respected agencies. She has served in leadership roles with both PRSA’s New York Chapter and the Board of Directors.
A passionate mentor, Leong has guided hundreds of students through PRSSA and championed DEI initiatives across the profession. Her honors also include the John W. Hill Lifetime Achievement Award and the Plank Center’s “Milestones in Mentoring” Award.
In her acceptance remarks during the opening General Session, Leong reflected on gratitude and purpose, invoking the words of baseball great Lou Gehrig upon his retirement from the Yankees, saying she felt like “the luckiest woman in public relations.” She thanked her mentors, colleagues, family and the PRSA community that shaped her journey — from her start as a PRSSA Gold Key recipient in 1988 to receiving the Gold Anvil nearly four decades later.
“Communication is more than a profession — it’s a responsibility,” she said. “We live in a time when truth is being twisted, when myths move faster than facts, and when trust feels fragile. Our challenge is to use our voices not for spin, but for service; to bring clarity where there is confusion; to remind the world that truth, told with empathy and integrity, still has power.”
Leong closed her remarks with a call to action for communicators everywhere: to elevate truth above myth and ensure that the next generation carries the torch higher.
“This moment isn’t just about me,” she said. “It’s about us — the communicators, the storytellers, the bridge builders. PRSA has given me mentorship, fellowship and community — and it has made all the difference.”
After her remarks during the General Session, Leong spoke woth PRsay what it means to receive the Gold Anvil:
ICON photo: Albert Chau
