SUNY Fredonia earns top honors at Buffalo Niagara public relations awards show
 Junior Public Relations major Emily Bird won the May C. Randazzo Scholarship from the Buffalo Niagara Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, while the Division of University Advancement took home "Best in Show" honors for its new alumni magazine, The Statement.  |
SUNY Fredonia junior Emily Bird was named the recipient of the May C. Randazzo Memorial Scholarship awarded annually by the chapter. Ms. Bird is a Communication / Public Relations major from Vestal, N.Y., with a Leadership Studies minor. She is also President of the SUNY Fredonia Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.
Director of Public Relations Michael Barone received one of two top Platinum (i.e., Best in Show) Awards given during the evening for “A Bold, New Statement,” recognizing the redesigned four-color Fredonia Statement, the biannual alumni magazine of SUNY Fredonia. Judges from the PRSA Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter praised the effort in taking the publication from a newsprint tabloid to a four-color magazine with enhanced and exciting content, giving it a perfect score as a Gold Excalibur award-winner in the Magazine category, thus making it eligible for consideration for the top prize given by the Buffalo Niagara Chapter.
SUNY Fredonia alumni were also recognized with Excalibur Awards. Dr. Deborah (Anders) Silverman, APR, ’76, ’79, (music educ., English) received two Gold Excalibur awards, the first in the Articles in Public Relations category for, “A Community Comes Together: The Crash of Continental Fight 3407,” which appeared in the Public Relations Society of America’s magazine, The Strategist. Her second came in the Presentations / Workshops on PR category for her presentation, “The Crash of Continental 3407: A Crisis Communications Case Study.” Dr. Silverman is an assistant professor in the Department of Communications at Buffalo State College. Cassadaga native Susan Asquith, ’85, (bus. admin.) senior vice president at Travers Collins & Company of Buffalo, earned a Bronze award in the Public Service category for the program, “Face2Face – The Fight Against Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Western New York,” and a Bronze award with colleague Carolyn Human in the Special Events and Observances category for, “Unmasking Generosity in Buffalo: the Seneca Diabetes Foundation 2009 Chairman’s Venetian Masquerade Ball. In addition, alumnus Joshua Gregory, ’96, (commun.) a public relations account manager at Gelia Wells & Mohr of Buffalo, was a member of the 2010 Excalibur Awards Planning Committee.
