Five students from the CoJMC were chosen to compete in the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Bateman Case Study Competition. This year Azlin Armstrong (Des Moines, Iowa), Alexa Farewell (Chambers, Neb.), Nate Lemburg (Cairo, Neb.), Otis Seiler (Columbus, Neb.) and Megan Simonsen (Sutton, Neb.).
will tackle an issue close to home – childhood cancer.
PRSSA has challenged students to develop, launch and evaluate a public relations campaign for the Minneapolis-based nonprofit With Purpose, a youth-led movement dedicated to making sure kids with cancer have better treatment options. This topic is important in Nebraska since the state’s per capita rate of children with cancer ranks among the top-10 highest in the nation.
“We have a duty to not only fight to raise awareness and funds to eradicate the problem, but to give kids living with the illness the chance to live childhood to its fullest,” said Janae Aune, president of Dance Marathon. “Children with cancer are fighting every day to overcome it and they deserve to have us fighting for them too.”
Each year, the Bateman Case Study Competition chooses a nonprofit client that allows college students to create a full public relations campaign that can have a positive impact on their community. Past campaigns have included topics such as mental health, student veterans and affordable housing. With three years under its belt, the CoJMC has collected numerous awards from the competition. Last year’s team earned a third place finish and received top-16 national honors in 2015.
Dance Marathon is a recognized student organization on UNL’s campus that focuses on raising funds for children treated at the Omaha Children’s Hospital. This year donations will go toward the Oncology and Hematology Unit.
The Bateman Case Study Competition originated in 1973 as a National Case Study allowing PRSSA members to exercise the analytical skills required for public relations problem solving. In 1983, the name of the Competition was changed to honor the late J. Carroll Bateman, APR. Bateman was a past president of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and was instrumental in the founding of PRSSA.
For additional information and updates about the PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition, visit http://www.prssa.prsa.org/scholarships-and-competitions/bateman-competition/.