PDA Letter Article

2021 PDA Honor Awards: Outstanding Early Career Professional Award?

by PDA, Inc.

This is the fourth installment of the PDA Letter's series featuring the winners of the 2021 Honor Awards, which were presented at the Honor Awards Ceremony at the 2022 PDA Annual Meeting. PDA thanks all of the recipients for their contributions to the Association.

Featured below is the winner of the Outstanding Early Career Professional Award. Next time: EU and Asia Service Appreciation Awards and Outstanding Chapter Award.

Outstanding Early Career Professional Award

This award is given in recognition of special volunteer acts contributing to the success and strength of PDA by an Early Career Professional.

Shane Costigan

Shane Costigan 

Shane has been an active member of the PDA Ireland Chapter Committee since 2017 when he was a student in University College Dublin and has been actively involved on the committees for several chapter events and was part of the group responsible for developing and implementing the chapter’s strategy for increasing membership and engaging with Early Career Professionals.

Jason Kerr

Jason Kerr 

Jason has been a prolific contributor to PDA starting as a member of the Southern California Student chapter. He currently serves as Secretary of the Southern California Chapter, a member of the PDA Membership Advisory Committee, and is co-chair of the 2022 Annual Meeting (the first ever ECP co-chair for a PDA conference), having served on the committee since 2019.

Selda Yildiz-Kaya

Selda spearheaded the Australian Chapter’s initial foray into engagement with Early Career Professional members as the first Students and Young Professionals committee President. Her leadership helped set the group on a firm foundation for continued success in incorporating future leaders into the activities of the Australia Chapter and PDA