Department of Communications, 308.865.8735
Two University of Nebraska at Kearney public relations teams placed first and third in the Mid-America Public Relations Competition at Pittsburg (Kansas) State University last weekend.
The two UNK teams were given a topic and information packets on Friday for the Saturday competition. This year the teams were required to address the legislative needs of their own university. For three hours on Friday, the teams prepared a public relations plan to convince the university to hire them. The 30 – minute presentations were given before judges twice on Saturday.
Participants of the winning team were graduating senior Katherine Thomas, a mass media major from Auburn; Megan Kulhanek, a graduating public relations major from Lexington; and Kyle Petersen, a junior from Tilden who is majoring in political science.
Third place was awarded to the team comprised of Lindsay Schluntz, a junior mass media major from Naponee ; April Refior, a junior news editorial major from Odessa; and Ryan Downing, a graduating senior from Stratton who is majoring in advertising.
UNK professor of communication, Dr. Keith Terry said, “I am very proud of the students, last year we took first place, and this year first and third.”
Peterson also placed second in the individual competition, which focused on crisis communication on the university campus. Each student involved was given 30 minutes to prepare a press statement for a given situation. The students then presented the statement to judges and fielded questions regarding the crisis.
The keynote address for the Friday night banquet at the competition was given by Drs. Lauri and Jim Grunig. The Grunigs are well-known researchers in the public relations field. They also judged participants in the final round of the competition on Saturday.
