Toti public relations guru, Chris Skinner was honoured with a leather-bound copy of his handbook from Oxford University Press Southern Africa to celebrate its 10th edition.
Chris, who has been a member of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa for over 30 years and is a committee member of the provincial branch, wrote the Handbook of Public Relations with Gary Mesham and Rene Benecke in 1982.
“The first edition was published by Macmillan Publishers,” said Chris. Over 80,000 copies of the book have been sold throughout Southern Africa and 15 education institutes use it in first, second and third year courses. “It is mostly for students.”
A graduate of Cambridge University with a BA, MA and one-year certificate in education, Chris recently published two books in Ghana and Kenya on proactive public relations and contributed a chapter on public relations in Africa to the World Enclopedia of Public Relations. “I co-wrote the Ghana edition with Kojo Yankah and the Kenyan one with Peter Kiuluku, Kentice Tikolo and Kojo Yankah.”
Later this year, three more chapters in new international texts will be published, featuring Table Mountain’s successful bid as a new Seven Wonders of the World, Rotary International’s successful Kick Polio out of Africa campaign, linked in with the FIFA World Cup soccer competitions in SA and Brazil and one of two entries from Africa on the history of public relations in SA for a world public relations handbook.
In total, he has written more than a dozen books over the past two decades and is the first author to feature in Oxford’s blog, launched this week.
Chris is also the branch chairman of Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (Wessa) and the president of the Rotary Club of Amanzimtoti.
