Colorado State’s University Relations Department Honored with Three Public Relations Society of America Awards

Colorado State University’s Department of University Relations was honored with three Public Relations Society of America Silver Pick Awards last night at the annual Colorado chapter awards ceremony in Denver.

Winning in the category of 2004 National Media Relations with budgets under $10,000 were Colorado State’s media relations entries for "Colorado State University President’s First Year" and for "William Gray and Colorado State’s Hurricane Forecasting Team." Winning in the category of 2004 Local Media Relations with budgets under $10,000 was "Colorado State University Awarded $56 Million for Three Research Centers." University Relations members contributing to the award-winning efforts include Brad Bohlander, Jennifer Dimas, June Greist, Leslie Hilbert, Paul Miller, Dell Rae Moellenberg, Greg O’Malia, Joe Rymski and Chris Weller.

"These awards demonstrate not just the strength of our communications team at Colorado State, but also the important work our faculty and staff are doing every day," said Tom Milligan, assistant vice president of university relations at Colorado State.

Colorado State University was the only winner in the category of National Media Relations with budgets under $10,000 for "Colorado State University President’s First Year" and for "William Gray and Colorado State’s Hurricane Forecasting Team." In the category of Local Media Relations with budgets under $10,000, Colorado State was honored along with public relations agency Schenkein for "A Mile High with Media Relations," Schenkein and Dex Media for "The New Phonebooks Are Here – En Espanol!" and SECC, T-REX  and PRACO Public Relations for "T-Rex: Keeping it Fresh, Day-In and Day-Out."

Colorado State University’s media relations team also was recently recognized with the 2004 Award for Publication Excellence, a national award, for efforts to help the public better understand the complex nature of bovine spongiform encephalopathy – or mad cow disease – and research being conducted by the university into this area during the BSE case in December 2003. The award was given by the national professional public relations and marketing group, Communications Concepts, in the category of Public Relations and Information Campaigns.

The Department of University Relations also was honored with 2004 APEX awards earlier this year in the categories of Individual Web Pages and Sections for customized Web pages for prospective students; Magazines and Journals for Alumni Magazine; Feature Series Writing for Diversity at Colorado State; Most Improved Newsletter for Comment; and, Calendars, Posters and Certificates for Colorado State Cooperative Extension 2004 Gardener’s Calendar.

Honors for Colorado State’s Department of University Relations for 2004 began in January with the League of American Communications Professionals 2003 Magellan Platinum Award – the highest honor in the nation in the category of community relations for an educational institution – for excellence in developing the campaign for "Bridges to the Future: American History and Values in Light of September 11."

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