The Marketing and Communications Department at Kellogg Community College has been awarded 10 prestigious Medallion Awards from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations for work promoting the College during the 2025-26 academic year.
The awards include three first-place Gold Medallion Awards, four second-place Silver Medallion Awards and three third-place Bronze Medallion Awards.
Medallion Award winners were announced Oct. 6 during the NCMPR’s annual District 3 Conference, which this year was held in Madison, Wisconsin. The NCMPR announced KCC won awards in the following categories.
Gold Medallion Awards
- Interior Signage/Displays (Single or Series): For original graphics installed on the walls of the College’s new Registrar/Business Office vestibule, designed by KCC and installed by KalBlue Group.
- Outdoor Signage/Displays (Single or Series): For a billboard promoting summer registration.
- Print Advertisement (Single or Series): For a series of print ads promoting KCC’s new Associate in Fine Arts degrees that initially appeared in Encore Magazine.
Silver Medallion Awards
- Academic Catalog or Class Schedule: For the College’s 2026 Bruin Youth Programming summer camps schedule.
- Novelty: For “Make More Music” coasters designed to look like records, promoting KCC’s new Associate in Fine Arts in Music degree.
- Radio Advertisement (Single or Series): For a 30-second audio advertisement promoting fall registration and the College’s new fall application deadline.
- Social Media Post or Story-Still: For a Facebook post featuring photos of the popular “Michael Loves Shannon” billboard, a well-known local landmark, showing the billboard before and after a KCC redesign of the original graffiti.
Bronze Medallion Awards
- Computer-Generated Illustration: For a series of promotional KCC “Madballs” illustrations drawn by KCC Graphic Design alumnus Brandon Smith.
- Flyer (Single or Series): For a series of double-sided flyer inserts designed for inclusion in Lakeview High School’s student newspaper, the Crystal.
- Postcard (Single or Series): For an “Almost There!” postcard highlighting KCC’s new fall application deadline.
KCC’s Marketing and Communications Department provides a variety of in-house strategy development, marketing management, graphic design and print services within the College’s Communications and Advancement Division headed by Vice President for Communications and Advancement Eric Greene. The marketing team has won a total of 111 Medallion Awards since 2012, as well as 33 prestigious Paragon Awards – national honors bestowed by the NCMPR – over the same time period.
Department employees include Mackenzie Griffith, graphic design process specialist; June Lewis, Print and Document Services senior process specialist; Cab Rininger, media design manager; Kristen Schau, Print and Document Services process specialist; Krissy 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. District 3 of the NCMPR includes schools in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Ontario. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medallion and Paragon honors are awarded annually in a variety of marketing and public relations categories.
For more news about Kellogg Community College, view our latest press releases online at https://daily.kellogg.edu/category/news-releases.
