Gold Medallion Award

MSPRA's Gold Medallion Awards recognize outstanding programs or projects that advance responsible school communications. Entries may come from public and private schools, education groups, regional MSPRA groups, and any public relations agency or private business serving such education entities.

MSPRA Gold Medallion Awards will be given to winning entries selected annually by the competition judges. Winners will be recognized and presented with their MSPRA Gold Medallion Award at the MSPRA State Conference later this year.

Guidelines

A planned presentation is necessary, submitted in a notebook (see details under "Rules") organized in the logical order of Assessment, Planning, Communication and Evaluation. Your entry will be judged on clarity of concept, good writing and evidence of objective evaluation of your project/program. Judges are experienced school public relations professionals.

Rules

The 2011 competition is open to any project or program completed between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. Your project must be submitted in a three-ring hard-cover, stiff spine binder to accommodate 8.5" x 11" material no more than 3" thick. Put nothing on the cover. Place the entry form inside the binder.

The first two pages of the project should be entitled "Project Summary" and are the most critical in the entry. Organize your summary carefully around the areas that the judges will evaluate on a point scale. These include:

  • Assessment - Evidence of the need or problem must be described and project goals must be stated and measurable.
  • Planning - Identified target audiences, involvement of others in the planning, and variety of communication channels considered and used.
  • Communication - Timelines for the project, variety of communication techniques used, and quality of written and graphic materials.
  • Evaluation - Evidence of a planned, objective evaluation that documents accomplishing the stated goals, communication techniques used and changes, if any, that will be made when repeating projects. When electing materials to be included in your presentation, use only those materials that best illustrate the major components of the project: news releases, brochures, clippings, photos, etc. Do not submit three-dimensional objects such as T-shirts or lapel pins. Photos of objects are acceptable.

One-of-a-kind material should be duplicated for inclusion in the notebook.

Entry Fee

Fee is $25 per entry for MSPRA members; $100 for nonmembers.

Entry Deadline: Entries must be postmarked by July 10, 2011.