Please note that this post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward MageeNews.com a small commission – at no extra cost to you.
Southern Miss Communications Team Honored
by Regional Public Relations Federation
The University of Southern Mississippi’s Office of University Communications has been honored with three awards from the Southern Public Relations Federation (SPRF). The honors included the federation’s top award, the Lantern, for University Communications work on the website, Choose.USM.edu, as well as Awards of Excellence for the “Choose Southern Miss” advertising campaign, and a series of USM research videos.
SPRF recognizes outstanding work in the field of public relations through its annual Lantern Awards program. The entries are judged on their individual merit by nationwide public relations practitioners. The awards program offers three levels of recognition, including Lantern Awards, Awards of Excellence and Certificates of Merit. The competition included entries submitted by businesses, corporations, agencies, universities and more from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and the panhandle of Florida.
“The awards are additional external validation that work of the Southern Miss University Communications team belongs in the same category as, and in many cases exceeds, the work being done by top professionals at agencies and corporations in the region,” said Jim Coll, USM Chief Communication Officer. “The people working to advance The University of Southern Mississippi through marketing and public relations are among the best in their field.”
The award-winning entries from Southern Miss included:
In the category of External Websites: the Choose.USM.edu website, which was designed and developed with the University’s prospective students in mind. The site helped facilitate nearly a 23 percent increase in online undergraduate enrollment applications during the contest entry time period over that same time period a year earlier.
In the category of Electronic Communications/Social Media (YouTube/Recorded Videos): a series of 11 videos featuring ongoing University research projects. Cumulative YouTube views of the videos were in the thousands, while nine of the 11 videos received television news airtime.
In the category of Short-term Public Relations Plan: the “Choose Southern Miss” integrated brand management campaign. The campaign featured Southern Miss students in print, television, outdoor and social media advertising and marketing. Among the indicators that the campaign was positively received were more than 700 positive Facebook comments, more than 22,000 Facebook likes, and a total of more than 1,000 shares of the campaign content on Facebook and Twitter.
In the past two years, the USM Office of University Communications has been recognized with 35 regional and statewide awards in the fields of marketing and public relations, including three SPRF Lantern Awards, 10 first-place awards from the College Public Relations Association of Mississippi and a PRISM award from the Public Relations Association of Mississippi. The awards recognized work in advertising/marketing, news and media relations, graphic and web design, video, and social media.
