STUDENT SUCCESSES
Bateman Team named best in the nation for public relations campaign
The Loyola University 2008 PRSSA Bateman Team received first place in the National PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition for its public relations campaign promoting Safe Kids Worldwide, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing unintentional childhood injury.
The Loyola Bateman Team was one of three teams to present its winning public relations campaign at the the national Bateman Competition in Detroit, Mich., May 1-4. Team members presented their campaign to executives of General Motors and Safe Kids Worldwide. The other two finalists were California State University at Long Beach and Texas Christian University.
The PRSSA Bateman Competition is a national contest among universities to promote selected clients. This year's campaign, "Safe Kids Buckle Up," asked students to address the issue of seat belt usage among youth, ages 11 to 14.
Loyola's 2008 Bateman Team includes Shannon Corrigan, Daniel Mazier, Andrea Mulcrone, Kelly Rayner and Kelly Roth. This is the fifth year that Loyola placed first in the competition. Loyola also placed first in 2005, 2003, 2000, and 1997.
Ad Team places in top tier of district advertising competition
The Loyola Ad Team placed fourth in its district of the
National Student Advertising Competition, sponsored by the
American Advertising Federation. The district competition
was held April 26-27, 2008, in Chatanooga, Tenn. Over the
course of the spring semester, the team put together a
strategic advertising campaign for AIM (AOL Instant
Messenger) targeting young adults 18-24.
Robert A. Thomas, Ph.D., interim director of the School of
Mass Communication, said he was proud of the team's
performance. "We educate our students to excel and do their
best. This team demonstrated that they embody what we teach," Thomas said.
Team members were Anna Toujas, Summer Zeimetz, Mauricio Esquenazi, Annick Megie, Scott Bryars, Kate Rafferty, Alexandra Fredrichs, Karen Ressue, Rosamar Torres, and John Vitou. The team was led by Instructor Robbie Vitrano.
The Maroon staff honored by the Louisiana Press Association
The Maroon staff received a second place award for general excellence in the Louisiana Press Association's 2007 Student Newspaper Competition. The Reveille at Louisiana State University placed first. The Gramblinite at Grambling State University was third. And Tech Talk at Louisiana Tech University received honorable mention.
The Maroon staff was also honored with a third place finish in the best sports photo competition. The announcement was made at the 128th annual Louisiana Press Association Convention in Lafayette on April 26, 2008.
Advertising students take home ADDY award for work with local school
A team of advertising students was recently honored by the Ad Club of New Orleans for an ad campaign they created for a local school facing declining enrollment.
The Ad Club of New Orleans presented the team with a gold Addy March 28, 2008, at the Ogden Museum of Art. The team, which called itself INsight Advertising, included Anna Toujas, Account Executive; Ted Makarewicz, Creative Director; Ann Elise Lady, Account Planner; Christopher Brady, Promotions/PR; and Claire DePauw, Media Planner.
The gold Addy is the highest distinction in advertising in the New Orleans area. The Addy Awards honor creativity in advertising and are judged by advertising professionals on the local, district and national level.
The students assisted The Hill School, an elementary and middle school in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District neighborhood, with a comprehensive advertising campaign. The school has faced difficulties recruiting students since Hurricane Katrina.
Pictured from left is Summer Zeimetz, mass communication senior; Dr. Anita Day, advertising sequence head; Ann-Elise Lady, mass communication senior; Ted Makarewicz, mass communication senior; and Anna Toujas, mass communication senior.
The Maroon staff honored at Society of Professional Journalists conference
The Society of Professional Journalists named Loyola University's student newspaper, The Maroon, the best non-daily college newspaper in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee at its regional conference March 28-29, 2008 on Loyola's campus.
This honor distinguishes The Maroon as one of the top 12 non-daily college newspapers in the nation. Trailing Loyola, the University of Arkansas and the University of Tennessee, who earned second and third place respectively in the non-daily newspaper competition.
In addition to the top honors, contributors to The Maroon also earned several awards, making Loyola one of the most decorated schools in the competition. Ramon Vargas, mass communication junior and Maroon editor in fall 2007, won several awards, bringing home first place and third place awards in general news reporting and first place for sports writing. Michael Nissman, mass communication senior and Maroon photo editor in fall 2007, won first place for sports column writing and second place for sports photography. A colloboration between Vargas, Nissman, Steve Kashishian, SS'07, and Daniel Monteverde, mass communication senior, earned first place for best photo illustration.
First place winners in the four-state regional competition will continue on to the national competition, which will be held later this year. According to the Society of Professional Journalists, collegiate journalists submitted more than 3,400 entries in 39 categories across SPJ's 12 regions work completed during the 2007 calendar year.
Advertising students take tour of New Orleans agency
Students in Dr. Anita G. Day's Advertising course took a tour of Zehnder Communications on March 14, 2008. Zehnder Communications is an advertising firm in New Orleans, La., that handles account planning, media, public relations, and creative. Pictured from left, Larry Hamburger of Zehnder Communications, students Ali Becnel, Frances Merkley, Caroline Calchunas, and Kristen Preau of Zehnder Communications.
Bateman Team executes public relations campaign for Safe Kids Worldwide
Loyola University's PRSSA Bateman Team organized a public relations campaign for Safe Kids Worldwide as part of the Public Relations Student Society of America's Bateman Competition, a national contest among universities to promote non-profits. This year's campaign, "Safe Kids Buckle Up," asked students to address the issue of seat belt usage among youth, ages 11 to 14.
Loyola's 2008 Bateman Team includes Shannon Corrigan, Daniel Mazier, Andrea Mulcrone, Kelly Rayner and Kelly Roth. Pictured left, Shannon Corrigan dances with students at one of the Bateman Team's Safe Kids Buckle Up kickoff events Feb. 22 at Benjamin Banneker Charter School in New Orleans.
The Wolf receives award for outstanding college magazine
The Wolf Magazine was named third best magazine in the south for its 2006-07 publication by the Southeast Journalism Conference. This prestigious award recognizes excellence in writing, design, editing, and photography. Loyola competed in a field of more than 30 universities from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Mass Communication seniors Lilith Dorko and Jessica Kinnison were editors of The Wolf in the 2006-07 academic year.
Advertising students create campaign for non-profit school
Advertising students in Dr. Anita G. Day’s advertising campaigns class created a comprehensive advertising strategy during fall 2007 for a private non-profit school faced with declining enrollment. The students presented their work to the school’s board of directors in December.
The Hill School is an elementary and middle school in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District neighborhood. The school focuses on a non-traditional Waldorf Education, which means lessons focus on creativity, the individual, and a respect for nature. Students learn math at an early age and when children begin reading, they start at an accelerated reading level with an expanded vocabulary.
Dr. Day’s advertising students worked the entire semester in teams to address low student enrollment and strategies for building awareness of The Hill School. Using the information they gathered, the students completed a situation analysis, descriptions of the target market, media planning, public relations and promotions recommendations.
The Hill School’s board members were excited about the students campaign results.
“Overall we were really impressed with their work,” said Jackie Case, chair of The Hill School’s board of directors. “They came up with creative ideas that we will definitely look at doing.”
Design students assist radio for the blind
A group of mass communication students assisted WRBH 88.3 FM Radio for the Blind with a logo for the station’s fourth annual golf tournament, one of the station’s largest fundraisers of the year.
Prof. Rachael Hatley’s Introduction to Layout & Design classes in the fall designed logos for the station to help publicize it’s fundraiser in the spring.
“I think nonprofits and universities have a natural tie in,” said Natalia Gonzalez, the radio station’s executive director. “All of the proceeds [of the golf tournament] go to WRBH operations and programming. We needed Loyola students [to help us] to save money.”
The WRBH golf tournament is scheduled to take place April 11, 2008, at Audubon Park in New Orleans.
Hatley’s classes also created logos and brochures for two other non-profits during the fall semester.
Students produced a brochure for the New Orleans Video Access Center, a not-for-profit media arts center that provides job training and job placement services for people interested in entry-level work in the New Orleans film and television production industry.
Students produced a logo and brochure for the Central City Renaissance Alliance, a community organization that promotes the culture and creativity of Central City. The organization supports members of the community toward empowerment. The boundaries of the Central City neighborhood are Louisiana Avenue to the Ponchartrain Expressway and N. Broad Street to St. Charles Avenue. For more information about this organization, go to www.myccra.org.
Journalism students assist in National Geographic photo camp
National Geographic magazine held a four-day photo camp in October in New Orleans with the help of journalism students in the School of Mass Communication.
Loyola journalism students acted as mentors and team leaders to 20 New Orleans Vietnamese-American students, ages 14 to 18, assisting them in documenting their lives and surroundings in their community.
This is the second year that National Geographic photo camp has come to New Orleans in partnership with Loyola.
In April 2006, National Geographic selected 15 high school students, armed them with cameras and photography basics, and let them loose to document their home after the storm. The slideshow, After the Disaster: A Look at New Orleans, was put on display at the Cabildo and is still viewable on the National Geographic Web site.
The National Geographic photo camp inspires youth from underserved communities, to explore their communities through the camera’s lens, and ultimately share their vision through public presentations and exhibitions.
The photo camp is taught by world-class photojournalists and photo editors, and is held about a dozen times a year in cities across the United States. Students are loaned cameras and encouraged to document their community and write about their experiences.
In this year’s photo camp, the students worked with National Geographic’s professional editors, including Kurt Mutchler, former Times-Picayune photo editor, and an organizer of the camp; technical director Jim Webb; and renowned photojournalist David Burnett, whose photo essay on Katrina appeared in National Geographic in 2006.
The students’ work was edited into a slideshow and then shown to the public at Mary Queen of Vietnam Church in New Orleans on the final day of the workshop.
A large exhibit will be on display in New Orleans at a date to be announced.
The Loyola journalism students served as mentors and assisted in the workshop. All are journalism students studying photography taught by Dr. Leslie Parr, journalism sequence head and director of the Shawn M. Donnelley Center for Nonprofit Communications.
Public Relations students assist Ozanam Inn
During the Fall 2007 semester, mass communication students enrolled in the School of Mass Communication's Writing for Public Relations course created media kits for Ozanam Inn, a men’s shelter in New Orleans' Central Business District. The class developed media and public awareness materials, as well as recommendations for fundraisers and events aimed at capturing public interest.
Due to declines in population since Katrina and the resulting loss of donor funding, Ozanam Inn is operating on a substantially reduced budget. According to Rusty Wirth, the office manager at Ozanam Inn, the organization's greatest need is to make the public more aware of the services Ozanam Inn provides and the need for financial donations. Ozanam Inn, which started in 1955, provides beds for 96 men each night and daily services – including food, counseling, legal and medical services and clothing – for men, women and children.
Bateman Team receives Award of Merit from PRSA New Orleans
Loyola's 2007 Bateman Team was recently honored with an Award of Merit in the external relations non-profit category at the annual awards banquet of the New Orleans chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. The banquet was held Nov. 14.
The Bateman Competition is a national contest among universities to promote non-profits. This year’s campaign, “Family Caregiving... Its not all up to you,” asked students to promote the Web site www.familycaregiving101.org.
Loyola's 2007 Bateman Team included, pictured from left, Stephen Brown, Katherine Hebert, Lyse Jackson and Andre Breaux. Also part of the team but not pictured was Cristina Rivera.
The Maroon nominated for 2007 Pacemaker
The Maroon, Loyola University's student newspaper, was nominated for the 2007 Pacemaker Award. The Pacemaker Award is the most prestigious award in college journalism.
This was the newspaper's seventh nomination for the award. The newspaper received the Pacemaker in 2006 and 1999.