NEW YORK — HP and the Public Relations Society of America’s New York City chapter, both of which are champions of diversity and inclusion, are partnering to honor the agencies that have made the greatest strides in the area.

HP has agreed to be the sole sponsor of PRSA-NY’s inaugural Big Apple President’s Diversity Data Honor Roll Award, which will be part of this year's Big Apple Awards. The annual awards recognize the best campaigns produced by New York-area firms.

Honorees will be based on data documenting their staff’s gender and ethnic makeup, which will remain confidential.

The creation of the Honor Roll award is the latest move by the PRSA chapter to hold agencies accountable when it comes to diversity and inclusion. President Sharon Fenster has been leading the organization’s push for agencies to publicly release their workforce stats.

HP has also called on the industry to bolster their efforts — which included CMO Antonio Lucio directing HP’s marketing agencies to improve diversity, and publicly tracking the results.

“It is our ongoing commitment to diversity and the desire to see measurable and meaningful change in the marketing, advertising and communications industry that inspired our decision to sponsor PRSA-NY’s Big Apple President’s Diversity Data Honor Roll Award,” said HP CCO Karen Kahn. “Clearly the thinking behind the award supports our insistence to our own agency partners to include more women and people of color in positions of influence on our account. Now the onus is on the rest of the industry – and we can all do better.”

Honorees will be recognized at the 2018 Big Apple Awards gala, scheduled for June 11 in New York.