Since 1973, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) has hosted an annual case study competition for college public relations students across the nation. This is an opportunity for four to five students to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom and in their internships to create and implement a full-blown public relations campaign within their community.
Public relations seniors Olivia Tompkins, Michael Banks, Evelyn Kelley, Montanna Heffington and Triston Tackett are representing the UGA PRSSA chapter in the 2018 Bateman Case Study Competition. The team has been challenged with designing a campaign for their client With Purpose, a youth-led grassroots movement aimed at spreading awareness of the problems with childhood cancer treatment in the United States.
The competition lasts a full calendar year, and consists of four stages: Research, planning, implementation and evaluation. After the team concludes their implementation phase on March 15, they will turn in their final entry to PRSSA headquarters in April. A panel of judges will evaluate the submissions and chose three finalists who will then present their campaign to PRSA professionals and the sponsor, With Purpose. Finalists receive a cash prize and award.
This year’s campaign is ‘The ABC’s of Childhood Cancer.’ When following the UGA campaign, you will notice three letters of the alphabet: (A) Altruism, (B) Breakthrough and (C) Cooperation, and their hashtags #ArchABCs and #ArchPurpose. To involve the UGA community, the Bateman Team hosted a fundraising Bounce-A-Thon event at Rush Athens, an indoor trampoline park, and tabled at the Tate Student Center, where they educated students on the concerns with current childhood cancer treatment methods in the U.S. through life-size Jenga blocks. They also encouraged students to write letters of encouragement for kids battling cancer at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA).
The UGA Bateman team hopes to both increase awareness of With Purpose’s mission in the UGA community and showcase that with the right resources, young people can do anything – even cure cancer. You can find their campaign on Facebook under UGA With Purpose, on Instagram at @UGAWithPurpose or on their website at https://tat82804.wixsite.com/withpurposeuga.
“Our team greatly appreciates all UGA faculty, student and staff participation, but most especially, we appreciate Grady’s support throughout the process. We have put in a lot of time and energy trying to make this campaign the best it can be and are very proud of how it has gone so far. We are ready for the final phase of the competition and can’t wait to hear what the judges think. Regardless, it is a great cause and learning experience,” said Bateman team member Olivia Tompkins.
To learn more, visit http://prssa.prsa.org/scholarships-and-competitions/bateman-competition/.
