Students in the UALR School of Mass Communication recently won the Public Relations Student Society of America Prism Award in the category of Best Communications Campaign — the biggest student award given by the organization.

Rachel Frey, Steven Savage, Janet Patrick, Courtney Collins, and Bricen Pace earned the award for work completed as part of a capstone course taught by Associate Professor Amy Barnes last spring.

Students enrolled in the public relations campaigns course provided two strategic communication plans for AR Kids Read, the local literacy intervention program founded in 2012.

One of the campaigns developed by the UALR students involved increasing volunteers, while the goal of the other campaign was to increase donors to the organization.

UALR senior Janet Patrick of Mayflower served on the award-winning team focused on increasing volunteers. She and her team members created a fact sheet filled with infographics detailing the critical need for literacy intervention for young persons.

Seven out of 10 fourth graders in Arkansas are not reading at proficient levels, according to AR Kids Read Executive Director Charlie Conklin, who emphasized the importance of resources, such as UALR, to support the mission of the nonprofit agency.

Barnes said the students worked hard because they knew they were not only trying to impress a client but future employers.

In addition to the students who won Prism award, another student enrolled in the capstone course, Kirsten Elliott of Sherwood, helped coordinate media outreach for a book distribution event on May 21 at Booker Arts Magnet School in Little Rock.

Elliott landed an internship at AR Kids, and when she graduated last May with degrees in political science and mass communication she was hired for a permanent position by the nonprofit.

Keep up with what’s happening; Subscribe to UALR Now.