Ithaca College

Students in Public Relations Lab, a capstone course in Ithaca College’s Integrated Marketing Communications degree program, received a PRism Award in the Student Program Awards/Events & Observances category by the Public Relations Society of America’s Rochester Chapter. The PRism Awards were announced June 18, 2020 at a virtual ceremony. IMC students Caroline Anson, Chloe Landau, and Joey LoPiccolo helped coordinate, promote, and evaluate Wizarding Weekend, a festival for fans of magic and fantasy, held in downtown Ithaca from Oct. 26 to 27, 2019. This PR Lab course in fall 2019 was taught by Arhlene Flowers, associate professor, Integrated Marketing Communications, in the Department of Strategic Communication based in the Park School of Communications.

The primary objectives were to build awareness of the Wizarding Weekend festival, thereby attracting previous and new festival-goers, and to prepare recommendations for rebranding the future event to the GorgeKeep Festival.

Rochester’s PRism Awards, an Anvil Awards Program, recognize complete public relations programs and tactical elements incorporating sound insights and analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation. The PRism Award is the highest scoring entry in a category; the second highest scoring entry in a category receives an Award of Excellence. Entries are judged by a group of public relations practitioners from the PRSA Rochester Chapter.