Baylor Public Relations Agency Teams Take Top Spots at State Public Relations Competition
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Baylor University's Public Relations Agency teams swept the top places at the Texas Public Relations Association competition in Austin on Friday, Nov. 12.
Two teams from the journalism and media arts department in Baylor's College of Arts and Sciences competed against statewide colleges and universities in a comprehensive crisis communication scenario and in summary news release competitions.
Baylor's teams won first and second places in both competitions against Texas Christian University, Abilene Christian University, Texas Tech University, the University of Texas and Texas State University. Texas Tech took third place in the comprehensive plan and Abilene Christian took third place in the news release competition.
First place winners were Baylor seniors Kristina Ballard, Becky Petter and Colton Wright.
Second place winners were seniors Claire Moncla, Kate Williams and Brittany Black.
Judges assessed anonymous work and later said the Baylor teams were very close, clearly outpacing the third-place finishers in both categories, said Maxey Parrish, senior lecturer in the Baylor journalism and media arts department.
"I believe the reason that Baylor performed so well is because we worked as a team," Williams said. "So many of the other school's students separated the work, and we worked together every step of the way, from setting the plan up to the final wording on the news release."
The crisis scenario competition required the teams to respond to a tornado striking a university stadium during a basketball game. The roof fell, causing fatalities and multiple injuries. The news release was a summary of the crisis scenario.
"We performed as if we were in a real crisis," Williams said. "No extra computers, notes or books were needed. Our professor prepared us well and we could not have done any better."
The public relations agency course is team taught by Carol Perry, lecturer in the journalism and media arts department, and Larry Norwood, Radford Professor of journalism and media arts. Prior to the competition, they held five meetings, spending several late nights discussing crisis communication with the two teams, Williams said.
"Our students not only used their expertise, but they worked together seamlessly," Perry said. "We couldn't be more proud of them."
by Katy McDowall, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805