RSU Wins Statewide PR Awards

Rogers State University faculty, students and staff earned three awards, including two top prizes, during the Oklahoma College Public Relations Association’s annual awards competition held earlier this month.

RSU graphic designer Randy Riggs (BA ’04) earned first-place in the Logo Design category for his work on the 2017 Hillcamp logo, which features an homage to recent Lego movies using an adaptation of the university’s Hillcat mascot in various Lego versions. Hillcamp is RSU’s four-day orientation program for new and transfer students.  

RSU’s #Zuck2RSU social media campaign to attract Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to visit northeastern Oklahoma earned first place in the Shoestring category that recognizes effective PR efforts on a minimal budget, as well as a third-place award in best use of social media in what was the most crowded field in this year’s competition. This is the second time in three years that RSU has earned a first-place finish in the Shoestring category that honors PR activities that have maximum impact for a minimal budget.

For the #Zuck2RSU campaign, OCPRA recognized communications faculty member Lee Williams, the RSU Department of Communications, the RSU PR office, RSUPR intern Parker Sauvageau (BA ’17) of Apple Valley, Minnesota, and communications senior Kate Pascoe of Oologah.

The #Zuck2RSU social media campaign originated through the RSUPR office after a university administrator noted a news article about the Facebook founder planning visits to all 50 states in the coming year. Sauvageau visited about the project with Professor Williams, who mobilized two classes this spring in developing social media content to support the #Zuck2RSU campaign. Pascoe was lead organizer of the human Facebook logo event that became a centerpiece of the campaign and Sauvageau shot and edited the event’s lead video, which quickly became RSU’s most shared piece of social media ever.

Dozens of students in Williams’ communications classes planned and shot videos highlighting the unique attributes of northeastern Oklahoma, including testimonials from fellow students and community partners such as the Will Rogers Museum and several area Native American tribes, including Cherokee, Osage, Wyandotte and Muscogee (Creek).

While the #Zuck2RSU campaign hasn’t yet secured a visit from Zuckerberg, the award entry noted the campaign earned widespread media attention from the Claremore Progress, the Tulsa World, other local papers, and two Tulsa TV stations, as well as more than a combined 60,000 views and shares of RSU-themed social media content among current and prospective students.

During the past decade, RSU has earned 33 OCPRA awards, including eight first-place awards in the annual competition among all Oklahoma public and private colleges and universities ranging from two-year colleges to the state’s comprehensive universities. David Hamby, RSU Director of Public Relations, just completed his one-year term as president of the OCRPA Board of Directors during the annual conference, which was held July 16-18 at Quapaw, Oklahoma.

For more information on OCPRA, visit www.ocpra.org.