The National Council for Marketing and Public Relations last month awarded Kellogg Community College’s Marketing and Communications Department three prestigious Paragon Awards for the department’s efforts to promote the College.
The NCMPR Paragon Awards are international awards recognizing outstanding achievement in design and communication at community and technical colleges in the United States and Canada. The awards competition is the only one of its kind and honors excellence exclusively among marketing and public relations professionals at two-year colleges.
Award recipients were announced March 25 during an awards ceremony at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Aurora, Colorado. The NCMPR announced KCC had won awards in the following categories:
- Annual Report (Silver), for the December 2020 edition of KCC’s BruIN magazine, which doubled as the College’s annual report.
- Class Schedule (Silver), for the College’s 2021 Bruin Youth summer camp schedule.
- Computer-Generated Illustration (Gold), for COVID-19 related illustrations utilized on the cover of the annual report.
The competition this year included hundreds of entries in 52 categories from colleges across North America. Entries were judged by marketing and public relations professionals from around the U.S.
KCC President Dr. Adrien Bennings congratulated the department and said the honors demonstrate the College’s ongoing commitment to promoting accessible, high quality education in the communities the College serves.
“Communication is a key component of the College’s ongoing strategic plan and community engagement initiatives, and these awards are proof positive of KCC’s dedication to communicating student success, operational excellence and culture at the highest level,” Benning said. “The admirable work done by our Marketing and Communications Department is a reflection of the admirable work being done at Kellogg Community College.”
KCC’s Marketing and Communications Department provides a variety of in-house strategy development, marketing management, graphic design and print services under the leadership of Eric Greene, vice president for Strategy, Relations and Communications. The marketing team has won a total of 11 Paragon Awards since 2012, as well as 55 Medallion Awards – regional honors bestowed by the NCMPR – over the same time period.
KCC Marketing Director Simon Thalmann said the awards are a continuing validation of the valuable work the Marketing and Communications Department at KCC does to communicate College news and the value of the College to the community.
“We’re thrilled to once again be recognized by our peers in the higher education marketing and public relations community for our efforts to communicate with KCC audiences,” Thalmann said. “The Marketing and Communications team works tirelessly to showcase the great work being done here at KCC, and awards like these, as judged by other higher ed marketing professionals in our field, are encouraging reminders that we’re doing this work at the highest level in service of our audiences.”
Department employees include Mackenzie Griffith, graphic design process specialist; June Lewis, print and document services staff assistant; Mike Loader, print and document services technician; Cab Rininger, media design manager; Kristen Stolz, marketing and communications specialist; and Simon Thalmann, marketing director. The department also employs part-time student workers as an opportunity for KCC students to learn valuable, on-the-job marketing, communication and design skills.
The NCMPR represents marketing and public relations professionals at community and technical colleges across the United States and Canada. Gold, silver and bronze Paragon and Medallion honors are awarded annually in a variety of marketing and public relations categories.
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