Xenia Daily Gazette
CEDARVILLE — Cedarville University’s public relations department was recently awarded two PRism Awards by the Public Relations Society of America (Dayton Chapter).
Cedarville was recognized for Ben Carson’s presidential rally in September 2015 and for its newly developed “The Buzz” internal newsletter. Jim Amstutz, director of event services, Ryan Bower, assistant director of public relations and Mark D. Weinstein, executive director of public relations accepted the PRism for the Carson rally; Bower and Weinstein accepted the award for The Buzz.
According to the nomination form submitted by Cedarville University of the Carson special event, the PR goal was to gain local, regional, and national media exposure from the rally. Meltwater News, a third-party media analytics firm in Chicago, reported the potential number of people viewing the story on TV reached 1.4 billion people worldwide. And, according to Meltwater, this media exposure would cost $22.8 million if the time was purchased.
All of Dayton’s major media outlets covered the rally, as did CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, NBC, and The Associated Press.
The rally also served as a backdrop to an emotional story involving Carson and Adam Brandt, a senior admissions counselor, who had a brain tumor removed by Carson 15 years ago. The rally was the first time Carson and Brandt interacted since Brandt left the hospital as a five-year-old boy. This story was told on The Kelly File on Fox News later that evening.
The second PRism was for The Buzz, an electronic newsletter designed to keep the university’s faculty and staff aware of campus news and media interviews by colleagues. The university currently has a print version newsletter produced once a month, but the frequency of The Buzz has created a stir of excitement on campus.
In less than one year, research data proves The Buzz has been successful.
In a March 2016 survey of the campus community, 97.5 percent of employees always or regularly open The Buzz when it arrives in their email inbox. Anecdotally, faculty communicated they felt The Buzz provided useful information that helped them to feel more connected with the university.
Cedarville University has now won three PRism awards within the past six years. The other award was for its successful event with Karl Rove that launched the Center for Political Studies at Cedarville University.
Dayton PRSA awarded 17 PRism awards and 7 Awards of Merit at its annual recognition lunch at the Dayton Art Institute.
