From left: Robert S. Lapiner, dean, NYU-SCPS; Thomas J. Quinlan III (R.R. Donnelley), recipient of 2011 NYU Prism Award; Harold (Terry) McGraw III (The McGraw Hill Companies), holding award for Quinlan; Martin J. Maloney (Broadford & Maloney) and Diane Romano (Hudson Yards), advisory committee, NYU-SCPS M.A. program in Graphic Communications Management and Technology.

Thomas Quinlan with Joseph P. Truncale (NAPL), recipient of NYU Alumni Award.

The New York University (NYU) Prism Award Luncheon celebrated its 25th anniversary today by conferring the honor for which it is named upon Thomas J. Quinlan III, president and CEO of R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company. The Prism Award has been given annually since 1986 in recognition of distinguished leadership in the graphic communications media industry.

Also honored was Joseph P. Truncale, president and CEO of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), who was named the recipient of the 2011 Alumni Award.

The Prism Award Luncheon is the industry’s longest-running and most successful educational fundraising event, having collected more than $6 million for graphics studies since its inception. All proceeds from the $750-per-seat luncheon go to scholarships for students enrolled in the M.A. program in Graphic Communications Management and Technology at NYU’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS)

Its graduate offerings have been in existence since 1981, when, in the words of NYU-SCPS Dean Robert S. Lapiner, “the founding members virtually willed into being the original GCMT program.” Every year since then, many high-ranking industry executives have served on the M.A. program’s advisory board as curriculum consultants and as providers of internships and career guidance. The program, under the academic direction of Bonnie Blake, also enlists industry professionals as adjunct lecturers.

Today, several hundred people filled a ballroom at Gotham Hall near Manhattan’s Herald Square to salute the honorees in a ceremony emceed by advisory board co-chairs Diane Romano (Hudson Yards) and Martin Maloney (Broadford & Maloney). Prism Award committee chairs were Francis McMahon (Océ North America) and Laura Reid (Hearst Magazines). Serving as general luncheon chair was Harold (Terry) McGraw III, chairman, president, and CEO of The McGraw Hill Companies.

Introducing Quinlan as the Prism honoree, McGraw praised him for “his inclusive leadership style and his unswerving commitment to integrity.”

“Tom has always found ways to give back,” McGraw added. “But his biggest passion is education.”

As the leader of the world’s largest provider of printing and print-related business services, Quinlan oversees a publicly traded, $10 billion operation with 55,000 employees in more 600 locations around the globe. He joined R.R. Donnelley in 2004, having served in top management positions at Moore Wallace (merged with R.R. Donnelley in the same year). He has been CEO of R.R. Donnelley since 2007.

Quinlan is the fourth chief executive of R.R. Donnelley to be honored with a Prism Award. In his acceptance remarks, he described graphic communications as “the science that enables all of the other sciences.” Observing that “aggregating and distributing content has become a multimedia affair,” he noted R.R. Donnelley’s ongoing efforts to become a creator and a manager of content as well as a reproducer of it.

Quinlan emphasized that no matter what form content takes or how it is distributed, it must be high-quality material that adds value for customers.

The young people now joining R.R. Donnelley are helping the company make the most of the “amazing array of digital technologies” now at its disposal, Quinlan said. Asked by a student in the audience to share the most valuable piece of career advice he had ever received, he answered, “I wish there was a formula.”

“Work hard,” he exhorted the student and her peers. “There is no substitute for that. Surround yourself with smart people, and don’t worry about failing.”

“Be a sponge,” he added, of career-enhancing information wherever it can be found.

Presenting the Alumni Award to Truncale, Maloney introduced him as a “Jersey boy” who made good by becoming a “role model” in association management, business leadership, and graphics scholarship. With NAPL for 26 years, Truncale also has spent the last 10 as an M.A. program faculty member and as a member of its advisory board. Truncale crowned his affiliation with NYU last month by receiving a Ph.D. in media, culture, and communications from the university’s Steinhardt School.

Of his classroom work in the M.A. program, he said, “I’ve learned so much more from my students than I teach them.” He urged an audience full of hiring decision makers to give them serious consideration as potential recruits.