Drake students were honored recently for their achievements in public relations, writing and publication.

Work created by public relations seniors won three PRIME awards from the Public Relations Society of America Central Iowa Chapter. The 2018 senior capstone class created campaigns for Creative Visions, a Des Moines nonprofit organization that supports vulnerable communities through education and economic empowerment. The student teams won two PRIME awards in the Student Campaign category and a Community Champion award in the professional contest. The awards will be presented at central Iowa PRSA’s annual conference on Thursday, Oct. 18.

SJMC students won seven magazine and writing awards at the recent Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication contest.

Urban Plains, the website produced by the Magazine Media, News and Digital Media Production seniors, placed second in the Online Magazine category. The judge said of Urban Plains, “More than ever before, we need national stories with a Midwestern prism — stories that forever alter the perception of this part of the country and the people who live here.”

Multimedia stories produced for Urban Plains won first-place awards in the Investigation and Analysis and First Person categories; second place and honorable mention in the Places category, and honorable mention in the Features category. The judges in the Investigation and Analysis category said of the Drake student work, “Attempting to incorporate audio, video, maps, and other multimedia elements can often make a piece feel cumbersome and gimmicky. But the journalists were able to use all these tools to tell a more immersive and fleshed-out story. . . . I’d love to see what the reporters could pull off if they had even more resources.”

The SJMC winners were:

Online Magazine: Second place, Urban Plains
Articles — First Person: First place, “New Kid in the Ring,” Adam Rogan
Articles — Investigation and Analysis: First place, “From a Drop of Hate to a Ripple of Healing,” Jess Lynk, Katherine Bauer
Articles — Places: Second place, “Zombie Balls,” Matthew Gogerty; honorable mention, “Exploring the Abandoned Midwest,” Anne Matte
Articles — Features: Honorable mention, “500 Miles on 500 Dollars,” Adam Rogan
New Magazine Ideas: Second place, “Breakthrough,” Kayla Parker

Kathleen Richardson, School of Journalism and Mass Communication