UNL public relations student group wins top honors

Released on 01/08/2010, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lincoln, Neb., January 8th, 2010 —
PRSSA faculty adviser Phyllis Larsen (left), Web developer Amanda Hinrichs (center) and chapter president Bridgette Muller (right)
PRSSA faculty adviser Phyllis Larsen (left), Web developer Amanda Hinrichs (center) and chapter president Bridgette Muller (right)

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America won top honors with an Award of Excellence at the Nebraska Public Relations Society of America Paper Anvil Awards last month.

The awards are awarded annually to professionals and students in the public relations field. The UNL chapter won the award in the student category for Best Electronic Media Campaign.

The campaign involved a variety of contact points used to recruit members for the 2009-10 school year. A Web site (www.unl.edu/prssa) was created as the primary source of information. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were also used as tools to reach students. An electronic newsletter was distributed monthly to members to keep them up-to-date on current PR issues and trends, as well as chapter news.

"The work produced by the PRSSA executive board was excellent," said Bridgette Muller, UNL chapter president. "The tactics we developed helped increase our membership by more than 100 percent. This year we have a record number of members and I think our electronic campaign is responsible for that."

The campaign was created by Muller of Windom, Minn., Amanda Hinrichs of Kearney (director of Web development), Jennifer Kardell of Kearney (director of Web development), Brianne Hake of Leigh (director of membership development), Jocelyn Limbach of Crawford (director of membership development), and Matthew Bergh of Fargo, N.D. (director of social outreach). Professor Phyllis Larsen is the faculty adviser of the UNL chapter.

PRSSA is a national student organization devoted to educating and preparing students to enter the public relations field. PRSA is an international organization for professionals. For more information about PRSSA or PRSA, please visit www.unl.edu/prssa, www.prssa.org, www.prsanebraska.org or www.prsa.org.