The West Genesee school district will be awarded by the New York School Public Relations Association in its 32nd annual Communications contest for outstanding district publications. Awards will be presented at the 2011 NYSPRA Awards Luncheon Oct. 28 at the 2011 convention of the New York State School Boards Association in Buffalo.
The Wildcats have been recognized and will receive an honor award in the calendar category for its 2010-11 calendar and information guide and an excellence award in the photography category for a its photo entitled, “Freshman Orientation-Learning to Work as a Team.”
West Genesee Superintendent Christopher Brown pointed out one particular person for making this possible, School Information Officer Bonnie Russell. Russell has served as the district’s newsletter editor, website coordinator and publicity contact since January 2002. Russell is also responsible for the media relations including press releases and connecting with local newspapers and television stations. She manages the Facebook fan page, online and paper calendars, all news going to the website and district e-newsletters are also edited by Russell.
“Any time we can win a state award it is important to recognize those individuals who made it possible,” West Genesee Superintendent Christopher Brown said. “In this case, Bonnie Russell has done a tremendous job making sure that all of our communication is professional quality, state of the art and reachable by anyone … For the school district it means that we have continued to excel in this area and we are very proud to be able to deliver such a high quality product to our community.”
In the past, West Genesee has been honored by the NSPRA honorable mention three times for its communicator as well as photography, newsletter, website and poster. This is the first year West Genesee has been honored for its calendar and information guide.
“I respect and look up to my peers within the school public relations community,” Russell said, “which makes this honor significant as it validates that what we are doing with communication here at West Genesee is being noticed while also making a positive impact on our community.”
Another Onondaga County district, Fayetteville-Manlius, was also honored. The district received an excellence award for its F-M News: Budget Edition, in the budget / bond newsletter category; a merit award for its F-M News in the community newsletter category; and a merit award for its capital project referendem video in the DVD/video category.
For a complete list of the 2011 winners, visit www.nyspra.org.
