(Joplin, MO) – Six Missouri Southern State University (MSSU) students were honored at the regional ADDY Awards on Saturday, March 2 at Downstream Casino.
Students in Shanna Slavings’ Introduction to Public Relations course were asked to create a social campaign for One Joplin, an organization that unites local business leaders, community members, and advocates to improve the overall health and future stability of Joplin. Over the course of four months, five students — Makenzie Purinton, Haylee Smith, Oscar Campa, Corbin Beal, and Chad Anderson — produced a social campaign. One Joplin will launch the campaign this year.
“One of our goals is to better communicate opportunities for healthy lifestyle choices in the community,” said Nicole Brown, executive director of One Joplin. “We thought the students could offer a fresh perspective on how to deliver this message to the community, and they did a great job and put a lot of hard work and thought into the campaign.”
Senior sports and recreation management majors Makenzie Purinton and Haylee Smith were tasked to design the social media posts for the campaign. Using information provided by Campa, Beal, and Anderson, Purinton and Smith created posts about health and wellness, such as healthy and easy recipes and local parks for community members to visit. They worked together to coordinate a consistent theme within the posts.
Upon completion, Slavings encouraged the group to submit the campaign to the ADDY Awards, a national competition hosted by the American Advertising Federation that
Awards entries considered to be the very best in the business. The group has won a local award and received it during the March 2 ceremony.
“I’m very grateful that we won an ADDY,” said Purinton. “Our team tried our best for One Joplin, so I’m looking forward to receiving the award with my team.”
Freshman mass communications major Shawna Casner will also be honored at this year’s ADDY Awards for her audio PSA for Golden Paw, a pet rescue and adoption center based in Joplin.
“Some friends and I have adopted from the organization, and my mother — an elementary school counselor — brings students to volunteer at the rescue, so I knew it would be a great nonprofit to promote,” said Casner.
Like Purinton and Smith’s group, Casner’s project also began as an assignment but for Brian Mehrens’ KXMS Radio Production Practicum course. Students were instructed to be as creative as possible. To reach this goal, Casner took to writing her own script and directing a skit for the PSA. However, she ran into a small issue.
“I had no idea who to ask to be my second voice on the PSA,” said Casner. “It was my first semester at college, so I hadn’t made a lot of friends yet, and I also didn’t know anyone else who did radio or theater that would be able to act out a voice.”
So Casner recruited the person closest to her.
“I roped my husband Jeremiah into helping me,” said Casner. “While he had no experience in theater or radio, he worked hard to get it right. In the end, he made it sound exactly how I wanted it to sound. We had a blast recording and shared many laughs while producing it.”
After adding the final details on the PSA, Casner submitted her assignment and was excited to hear that Brian Mehrens, in turn, had submitted it to the ADDY Awards. A few months later, she received an email notifying her that she won an ADDY for her audio PSA.
“I’m very grateful for Mr. Mehrens’ guidance throughout that semester,” said Casner. “The award is such a confidence booster, and it makes me feel like I’m on the right track for my career.”
Reference:
University Relations & Marketing
Missouri Southern State University
417.625.9813
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