The staff at Southern Arkansas University Communications recently earned six national marketing awards.
SAU Communications earned three national honors from both the Collegiate Advertising Awards and the Educational Advertising Awards. Included in the honors were projects relating to their “Taking the Mulerider on the Road” public relations initiative in 2013.
Josh Jenkins, SAU Manager of Web Communications and Online Marketing, won two Gold awards, one from each competition, for his custom website, www.SAUmag.edu/OntheRoad. Jenkins joined SAU Communications in August 2013, and this was his first contest entry as a Mulerider staff member. The website Jenkins created is a mobile responsive, one-page modern website with advanced design features. The site also integrated dynamically with social media outlets.
Communications also took home a Silver and a Bronze for the TV commercial that featured Mulerider Megan Maye and Molly Ann riding through Texarkana to promote new classes being offered in that area. Another Bronze was earned for the “Complete College Experience Stories” video.
Another Gold award was given for the video tribute to Whitley Reeves Barnard.
The video was produced by Aaron Street and Michael Kornegay of Southern Arkansas University Communications to share what an impact Barnard had on SAU and the community. The video also served to raise awareness for the Whitley Reeves Barnard Finish Strong Scholarship endowment through the SAU Foundation. To watch the video, visit https://web.SAUmag.edu/whitley.
The tragic loss of Barnard to cancer just prior to her graduation from SAU is not what people remember, it was her inspiring positive spirit that has kept her memory strong.
“It amazes me that my precious little daughter used her life in such a big way to shine light in a dark world,” said Barnard’s mother, Nanette Hoyle. “You would not believe the many people, including SAU students, who have sent messages and letters about Whitley’s impact on their lives.”
Hoyle and Barnard’s sister, Mallory Reeves, are featured in the video tribute. They knew Whitley wanted her story told.
“She asked us to do that before she left us,” said Nanette. “And I know that above all she wanted her faith and how God worked in her life to be what everyone saw. It is what gave her peace throughout the storm.”
The Whitley Reeves Barnard Finish Strong Scholarship reached the minimum award level during the 2013-14 fiscal year, and will earn sufficient income to begin providing part tuition for the 2015-16 school year. As additional donations are received, the amount provided to the recipient will increase toward the ultimate goal of providing a full tuition scholarship for a student in the College of Business. The endowment is approximately a third of the way to that goal.
Those wishing to invest in the scholarship may do so by visiting the Foundation website and clicking on the “Make a Gift” button or by calling the SAU Foundation at 870-235-4078.
The Twenty-Ninth Annual Educational Advertising Awards were sponsored by Higher Education Marketing Report. The Educational Advertising Awards is the largest educational advertising awards competition in the country. This year, nearly 2,000 entries were received from over one-thousand colleges, universities and secondary schools from all fifty states and several foreign countries.
According to the Collegiate Advertising Awards’ website, they provide an elite program designed to recognize today’s most talented educational marketing professionals for outstanding excellence in all forms of advertising, marketing and promotion.
