Students place 2nd in Bateman PR competition
By: Kirsten Khire
May 18, 2009
Five Michigan State University students received second-place honors on Friday in the 2009 Bateman Case Study Competition.
The annual competition, organized by the Public Relations Student Society of America, involves student teams competing to show their public relations skills to benefit a non-profit cause. This year, students worked with the Consumer Bankers Association to raise college awareness among public school students.
Philip Bator, Lindsay Bacigalupo, Elizabeth Catalano, Monica Fineis, and Melissa Hackett were the team members of MSU’s Bateman Team from the College of Communication Arts & Sciences, supervised by advisors Amber Shinn and Russ White.
This year’s sponsor and client was the Consumer Bankers Association and their public information program—College Bound Aid: Hit the Books Running. Hit the Books Running addresses barriers to attending college and aims to raise awareness of college affordability and accessibility for middle and early high school students and their parents.
Teams from MSU, Loyola University, and the University of Maryland were chosen as finalists from 77 entries to present their campaigns in person before judges in Washington, D.C. A panel made up of representatives of the Consumer Bankers Association and the Public Relations Society of America selected Loyola's campaign for first-place honors and awarded MSU and University of Maryland second and third, respectively.
"This is the first time in MSU PRSSA history that the Bateman team has gone to the finals, and we are very proud of this second-place distinction," said Fineis, competition director of the team.
MSU was the only full-volunteer team that did not receive class credit for their work. The team was awarded $1,500 for their PRSSA chapter.
