UALR Senior Gabriella Corriere, a strategic communication major with a minor in advertising, won the national Public Relations Society of America’s Silverman Award and the group’s Yoshimura Scholarship at the association’s annual conference in Orlando.

Corriere is only the second recipient of the award, named for former Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide Chair Marsha Silverman. Corriere is believed to be the first UALR student to win a national PRSA prize.

Announcement of the award came at the 2011 national PRSA student society convention held in Orlando with the national PRSA conference. Corriere was at the national convention to receive the Gary Yoshimura Scholarship when she was surprised by receiving the Silverman.

“I am still in shock,” said Corriere, who accepted the award from Mickey G. Nall, managing director of Ogilvy’s Atlanta division. “I am incredibly honored to have won such a prestigious award and am excited about the career opportunities it will offer me at the national level.”

Corriere, a UALR McNair Scholar, is president of the UALR student chapter of PRSSA. The native of Flushing, N.Y., competed in a national pool of applicants and was the only winner of the $2,400 Yoshimura scholarship based on a 1,000-word essay on how she overcame adversity. It is rare that PRSA confers more than one award to the same student.

Earlier this year, she won the $1,200 Arkansas Advertising Federation Scholarship.

“I have always been fascinated by the way people communicate,” she said. “I learned how words can be powerful weapons and useful tools.”

After leaving the University of Florida, she worked as an Alltel customer relations representative. An offer of a promotion brought her to Little Rock. When Alltel and Verizon merged, Corriere thought it was a good time to return to school. She enrolled in UALR’s School of Mass Communication studying strategic communication and advertising while continuing to work at Verizon.

The PRSA Foundation created the Silverman award in 2010 for high-potential minority students entering their senior year and was made possible by donations to the PRSA Foundation and Ogilvy.

During her tenure as chair of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Marcia Silverman tripled the agency’s U.S. size, expanded it into a global powerhouse, and revolutionized public relations through initiatives, including such campaigns as CDC’s “America Responds to AIDS” and U.S. Fire Administration’s “Stop Drop and Roll.” Many clients from her early days are still with the agency.

The award comes with a $5,000 scholarship and will help Corriere establish valuable contacts with one of the nation’s leading public relations firms.