For the first time in DePaul's history, a team of College of Communication students are advancing to the final round of the
Bateman Competition, PRSSA’s premier national case study competition for public relations students. The other Bateman team at DePaul has received an honorable mention for their campaign.
This year, PRSSA headquarters received 57 entries from students at universities across the country. Of those 57 entries, 14 received an honorable mention and three advanced to the final round. Finalists will present their campaigns virtually to a panel of judges on Friday, May 15.
"I'm so proud of DePaul's two Bateman teams and their unprecedented achievements. It's better than I dreamed possible and it goes a long way to elevate our
PRAD program on a national stage,” said Jim Motzer, professional lecturer and faculty advisor for the Bateman Competition.
Educating the community, inspiring action for the 2020 Census
The Bateman Case Study Competition challenges students to execute a comprehensive public relations campaign, with this year’s focus on the 2020 Census. Through tactics such as social media, on-campus tabling, media outreach, and partnerships with university and government leaders, students’ campaigns aimed to educate members of their community about the importance of the census and motivate them to participate in the count.
For their campaigns, both teams targeted DePaul students as well as other populations that are considered hard to count by the U.S. Census Bureau, including Black and Hispanic males and people who are renters.
Adriana Talavera with Alderman Ariel Reboyras at a community forum gathering support for her team's "Make Your Community Count" campaign.The campaign “Make Your Community Count,” which advanced to the final round (created by Abby Barbeau, Annie Evans, Aleeza Mehtab, Audrey Nelson and Adriana Talavera), focused efforts on pitching op-eds, securing census endorsements from DePaul University President A. Gabriel Esteban, tabling at community events and churches, and canvassing at Chicago sports games.
The “Love Where You Count” campaign, which received an honorable mention (created by Callie Boboc, Natalie Rohman, Lauren Russett, Stephanie Robertson and Maddie Torti), aimed to communicate the importance of the census through tactics such as tabling at the PRSSA District Conference, partnering with the Student Government Association, distributing campaign stickers to DePaul students, and securing endorsements from trusted political leaders in the Chicago community.
Both groups also joined forces with several DePaul resources to help them succeed in their campaigns, including University Marketing and Communications, the Office of Community & Government Relations, the Division of Student Affairs, Residential Education, Facility Operations, and the Steans Center, which was instrumental in connecting the students with key community partners.
Student Audrey Nelson next to her team's "Make Your Community Count" sign during a tabling session on DePaul's campus.Advisor Jim Motzer expressed his appreciation for everyone at DePaul who helped make this year’s Bateman competition a success, and thanked his Bateman students who worked tirelessly on their campaigns throughout fall and winter quarter. “Best of all, we had a lot of fun and felt that promoting the census was important work.”
As one DePaul team looks forward to May 15 to present their campaign to a panel of judges, they’ve also expressed gratitude for their experience in the Bateman Competition. “Looking back I can honestly say that we put our hearts and souls into this project,” student Adriana Talavera said in a LinkedIn post. “The ‘Make Your Community Count’ campaign was a celebration of Chicago's diversity and uniqueness.”
Also see: