After only one semester of re-opening their doors for business, Florida A&M University student leaders in PRodigy decided to enter the Florida Public Relations Association’s (FPRA) Image Awards competition at the local chapter level. In spite of the incredible odds against first-time entries, and the reality that the students had never entered the company in a competition for anything before, they did it anyway. And they won.PRodigy is a student-run, campus-based company housed in the FAMU School of Journalism and Graphic Communication.
“The Florida Public Relations Association’s annual Image Awards competition encourages and promotes the development of public relations professionalism in the greater Tallahassee area,” said Betsy Couch, president of the FPRA Capital Chapter. “Students are an integral part of our community and we congratulate the members of PRodigy PR Firm on their outstanding contributions to this industry. Their participation in this year’s event was extremely valuable to the Capital Chapter.”
The Image Awards are an annual competition hosted by the Florida Public Relations Association; a statewide professional association for individuals who work in the public relations industry. Entrants may submit any public relations program, printed tool, or audio/visual tool that demonstrates excellence in the field from both an art and science perspective. The first stage of competition is at the local chapter level and is organized into four distinct categories including one that specifically accommodates student projects.
“The public relations students who ran PRodigy for the 2007-2008 academic year put the company back on the map,” says Gina Kinchlow, a faculty member in the public relations sequence in the FAMU Division of Journalism who has served as PRodigy’s adviser since spring 2006. “When they (the student associates) approached me in January about entering one of their accounts in the FPRA Image Awards, it was my job to say ‘yes’ and to support them every step of the way.”
The students entered their ‘TABI’ (Touch A Bright Idea) Campaign in the Image Awards student category as a public relations campaign. They won a Judges Award for an outstanding entry that achieved maximum results while using a minimum amount of money. They also won an Award of Distinction for meeting the standard of excellence set by the panel of judges.
PRodigy will now attempt to compete for an FPRA Golden Image Award on the state level. The competition deadline is May 23, 2008, and awards will be announced on August 5, at the annual FPRA Conference in Kissimmee.
Photo caption: PRodigy associate Ashley Brown (center) is presented with the FPRA Judges Award and Award of Distinction from Gina Tarlow (left) of VISIT Florida and Betsy Couch (right), president of the FPRA Capital City Chapter.
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