UF students place second at 2012 Bateman competition
Roberta Robers, Jared Misner, Public Relations chair Spiro Kiousis, Caroline Lewis, Jerry Bruno, and Jonny Shiver. (Click photo to enlarge)
Congratulations to the University of Florida’s Bateman team for its second place finish at the Public Relations Student Society of America’s 2012 Bateman Case Study competition in Minneapolis today. Loyola University, New Orleans, took the top prize.
The team included recent public relations graduates Caroline Lewis, Roberta Roberts, Jonny Shiver, Jerry Bruno, and Jared Misner; their faculty adviser, Professor Deanna Pelfrey, APR, PRSA Fellow; and their professional adviser, Mickey Nall, APR, PRSA Fellow.
UF’s teams have a long history of competing successfully in PRSSA’s Bateman Case Study competition, winning for the first time in 1983. UF also won in 1986, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2011. UF has won more competitions than any other university.
PRSSA received 70 entries for this year’s competition. Of these submissions, 15 entries received honorable mention and three were chosen as finalists to present their campaigns today to United Way and General Mills representatives at the General Mills headquarters in Minneapolis. The other finalist was the University of Maryland, College Park.
The competition’s goals this year were to increase awareness among children, teenagers and their parents of the serious short and long-term consequences of obesity, inform them of the steps they can take to adopt a healthier lifestyle and provide incentives to take action now.
The client-of-record for the competition was United Way Worldwide and the sponsor was General Mills. Teams were asked to identify and partner with their local United Way and also potentially partner with one or more local organizations with similar missions and goals to create a local cause-related public relations campaign. The campaign should aim to reverse the rising trend of childhood obesity in a sustainable way by advocating for healthy lifestyles through education, outreach and other tactics.
In addition, the UF Bateman team won a Judges and Image Award from the Florida Public Relations Association local chapter earlier this spring.
First established as the National Case Study in 1973, and later renamed to honor the late Carroll J. Bateman, APR, the competition challenges teams of students to research, plan, implement and evaluate a comprehensive public relations campaign for an actual client.
For the College, it was another strong finish in a long line of outstanding Bateman teams. “We are so proud of our Bateman team members, and of Deanna Pelfrey and Mickey Nall,” said Dean John Wright. “The Bateman campaign is the premier competition for public relations students. Their strong national finish is a testament to the team’s hard work; they represent the best of the UF College of Journalism and Communications.”
Posted: May 18, 2012
Category: College News
Tagged as: Bateman
