Health Sciences Office of Communications earns 3 PRSA awards
The University of Arizona Health Sciences Office of Communications won three Awards of Excellence at the Public Relations Society of America – Southern Arizona IMPACT Awards ceremony on Oct. 22. The office was recognized for its Health Sciences Connect newsletter, the Health Sciences Impact Annual Report and the TEDx Talks marketing campaign.
“I’m delighted that the PRSA – Southern Arizona Chapter has recognized the exceptional efforts of the Health Sciences Office of Communications this past year,” said Rachel Reinhardt, associate vice president for communications at the University of Arizona Health Sciences. “These awards reflect the innovative, cooperative and strategic work we do to highlight our faculty and staff and the critical research taking place at the University of Arizona Health Sciences.”
U of A Health Sciences faculty and staff members receive two weekly emailed newsletters. The Health Sciences Bulletin, which contains a listing of announcements, events, Grand Rounds, grants, published research and reviews goes out on Tuesdays. Health Sciences Connect, which is sent on Fridays, showcases published content from the past week, including features, honors and awards stories, multimedia, news clips, news releases and messages from the senior vice president for Health Sciences. Both newsletters were redesigned, rebranded and relaunched on a new platform in January 2024 based on responses to a survey and focus groups. The internal communications team worked with those responses to create an easy-to-use and clean-looking format.
“Congratulations on a clean, bright and engaging redesign, as well as switching to a new platform and adding so many new subscribers! I think you did a great job on this project,” one judge said in feedback on the newsletter submission.
The Health Sciences Impact Annual Report was created to showcase the remarkable outcomes of the U of A Health Sciences’ five-year strategic plan, most of which were accomplished during the pandemic. An interactive digital product was developed in collaboration with a third-party vendor. The published report was promoted through various print and digital channels.
One judge wrote, “The report looks great and is a comprehensive overview that offers details for those who wish to dig deeper.”
“Great quality and use of resources, thoughtful lessons learned — nicely done and well poised for iteration!” said another judge.
Three U of A Health Sciences leaders participated in the TEDxUArizona: Spirit of Wonder event, where they unraveled the science and need for the Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies, or CAMI, a research hub focused on therapies that stimulate or suppress the immune system to fight disease. The goal of the Health Sciences marketing effort was to promote the three TEDx videos to enhance brand awareness and increase interest in CAMI through a two-part campaign spanning social media, the web and e-newsletters to drive traffic to the TEDx videos and shorts on YouTube.
“The campaign was well thought out and exceptionally organized,” said one judge.
Another judge commended using clips from the TEDx video on social media to increase visibility and engagement.
The Health Sciences Office of Communications was created in 2019 to increase brand awareness and engagement with internal and external audiences, including university faculty, staff and students; legislators and policy makers; funders and donors; health care consumers; peer institutions; and corporate and community partners.
IMPACT Awards were also garnered by the U of A Marketing and Communications, the BIO5 Institute, the Institute for Computation and Data-Enabled Insight and the Office of Research, Innovation & Impact.
The Public Relations Society of America, Southern Arizona Chapter serves the professional communications industry through advocacy for excellence and ethical conduct, providing continuing education opportunities and supporting networking opportunities in the community.