Fisher Students, Staff Bring Home 2023 PRism Wins

Fisher’s marketing and communications team, several media and communication students, and a media and communication faculty member earned top honors at the 2023 PRism Awards hosted by the Rochester Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

The awards program, held on Wednesday, June 14, celebrate the best in public relations among Rochester-based practitioners and recognize complete public relations programs and tactical elements incorporating sound research, planning, execution, and evaluation. This year’s PRism entries were judged by industry professionals from the Los Angeles PRSA chapter.

Fisher’s marketing and communications team won the Not-For-Profit PRism in the press conference category for its historic press conference announcement of Fisher’s transformation from College to University on June 20, 2022.

In the spring 2022 semester, students in the PR Research and Planning course, taught by Professor Arien Rozelle, partnered with Lavery Library on a semester-long project to make the library more welcoming to people of diverse backgrounds. The class created agencies to research, plan, execute, and measure their respective public relations campaigns. Reel Relations, comprised of Bryce Macpherson, Mary Clare Boyle, Nicole Smith, and Shannon Munier, received an Award of Excellence in the Insights and Analysis category and a PRism in the Integrated Campaigns category for its “More Than Just a Library: It’s A Welcoming Space for All” campaign. Celestial Public Relations, led by Michaela Meleca, Emily Passmore, Jessica D’Amico, and Ali Short, hosted the first-ever Diversity Fest at Lavery Library. Their work was honored with two PRisms and an Award of Excellence in the Integrated Communications, Digital and Social Media, and Evaluation categories. 

In addition, Rozelle was honored with the Corporate PRism for her work on behalf of Black Button Distilling in the press conference category. In the special awards category, Fisher alumna Carlet Cleare ’06, press officer for the City of Rochester, was honored with the 2023 Rising Star Award.