The Madison Central School District is pleased to announce that it has received two awards from the New York School Public Relations Association. The award selections were announced on Friday, October 20th by the statewide association of school communications professionals.
The District earned awards in the “Excellence in Writing” and “Photography” categories for the 2022-23 school year. The awards were earned among nearly 500 total entries, and just 150 that received recognition from a panel of over 50 judges located nationwide. There were fourteen competitive award categories for varying forms of media and content.
In the “Excellence in Writing” category, the District received an Award of Excellence for its Made in Madison feature about MCS alumna Cori Hughes ‘88. This feature ran in the December 2022 edition of The Messenger newsletter. It detailed her incredible story of perseverance as she found her life’s calling in the game of basketball at Madison while overcoming significant personal obstacles to achieve her dreams. The Award of Excellence is the highest honor that can be received in an award category.
The written piece was judged on the following:
- Overall readability and quality of writing (clear, concise, accurate and error-free)
- Correct and consistent use of grammar and syntax; superior proofreading
- Relevance of copy to intended message/stated purpose
- Effectiveness of content in capturing reader’s interest (unique, creative, active writing)
- Completeness, informative value, relevance of topic choice(s)
- Timeliness and relevance of content
- Appropriateness of writing style to audience
- Quality of headlines
In the “Photography” category, the District received an Award of Merit for this photo from Madison’s modified baseball contest against Brookfield on May 30th, 2023.
.jpg?mask=32)
The photography category was judged on the following criteria:
- Overall quality and composition
- Effectiveness/quality of cropping, sizing and choice of angle
- Eye-catching appeal of photo
- Creative, appropriate choice of subject
- Effectiveness in complementing accompanying text/publication
Both entries were produced by District Communications Specialist Ray Biggs.
Awards will be presented at the New York School Public Relations Association’s Annual Conference in the spring of 2024.