Colorado State, Strategic Advantage Presented Top National Award by League of American Communications Professionals

Colorado State University and Strategic Advantage Communications, representing the University of Denver, have been presented with the League of American Communications Professionals 2003 Magellan Platinum Award – the best in the nation in the category of community relations for an educational institution.

The Magellan Award, a national publicity campaign award, recognized Colorado State and Strategic Advantage Communications, who represented the University of Denver, for excellence in developing the campaign for "Bridges to the Future: American History and Values in Light of September 11th."

Strategic Advantage and Colorado State placed 14th in the nation overall out of 307 entries and ranked closely with such competitors as ESPN, Michelin North America, Court TV/Goodman Media, Yahoo, HP/Hill & Knowlton and Xerox Corporation. For the complete list of the top 50 Publicity Campaigns of the year as judged in the 2003 Magellan Awards Competition, visit www.lacp.com/2003magellan/top50.htm.

"The 2003 Magellan Awards drew an unprecedented number of entries representing a broad range of industries and organizational sizes," said Christine Kennedy, LACP’s competition director. "More than 300 entries were submitted, so competition was exceptionally tough. Winners demonstrated a laser focus on communications grounded in creativity and passion, which ultimately helped message recipients understand and appreciate its relevance and importance."

"Bridges to the Future" is a statewide project co-sponsored by Colorado State and the University of Denver to encourage exploration and greater understanding of American history and values. The collaboration created a framework of quality programs and stimulating engagements to inspire the communities of Colorado to remember, to understand and to renew or reframe fundamental public value commitments.

Strategic Advantage and Colorado State worked throughout the year to communicate the program’s message through events with such notables as former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.

Colorado State, Strategic Advantage and the University of Denver also were honored earlier with the Public Relations Society of America – Colorado Chapter Gold Pick Award for Community Relations and the 2003 Distinguished Communicator Award given by the International Association of Business Communicators of Colorado for the "Bridges to the Future" campaign.

Strategic Advantage team members working on the "Bridges to the Future" campaign included Dale Jones, Doyle Albee and Kendra Westerkamp.

Colorado State’s team working on the campaign included Tom Milligan, June Greist, Dell Rae Moellenberg, Brad Bohlander, Jennifer Dimas, Leslie Hilbert, Joe Rymski and Chris Weller.

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