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Public Relations Student Chapter Wins Multiple Honors at Best of the Best Student Awards

by Brett Buckner

Jacksonville, AL (05/21/2025) — The Jax State chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), the student chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), brought home three prestigious honors from the Alabama PRSA 2025 Best of the Best Student Awards.

The awards were presented during the annual ceremony held at Encompass Health in Birmingham. Jax State PRSSA earned:

  • Chapter Development Award, which highlighted the chapter's approach of purpose and passion when it comes to the goals they set for the year. These goals focus on increasing membership value and overall presence, whether related to fundraising, professional development through workshops or career events.
  • Chapter Newsletter Award, which highlighted the communication efforts of the leaders through a creatively designed, immersive, high-quality newsletter for the chapter members and communication majors, and
  • Chapter Access and Engagement Award, which highlighted the Diversity in Public Relations panel earlier this semester, where members focused on diverse outreach across campus.

Going into the evening, faculty advisor Dr. Kate Stewart knew her students had accomplished good things during the year, but still didn't know what to expect.

"It was one of those situations where, not that we necessarily felt like the underdog, but we weren't going to be all cocky," said Dr. Stewart, who took over the chapter in August. "We'd had a leadership change and an advisor change. We knew personally we had done a lot of good work, but we also didn't know how that stacked up to the other 12 programs."

Then Dr. Stewart and those students in attendance started hearing Jax State's name called again, and again, and again. Each award was significant for specific reasons. "At the end of the day, we are proud to have won any, of course," Dr. Stewart said. "But if you ask our executive members, they'd be proud of different things."

For example, Chapter President Ansley Joslin likely found the Development award especially meaningful because "it is kind of an all-encompassing award," Dr. Stewart said. "It looks at everything you've accomplished." But if Samantha Stubbs, Vice President of Membership, were asked which was most important to her, she would've probably said the Chapter Access and Engagement award "because that specifically deals with how we got new members," Dr. Stewart said. "And then, of course, "And then, of course, Ann Manning, Director of Internal Relations, since she designed and sent out the newsletter, would say the newsletter award. It just depends."

Even without the 2025 awards on their resume, the PRSSA chapter has unquestionably come a long way. When Dr. Stewart took over the advisory role, one of the first things she did - even before considering what they could accomplish - was to assess what the chapter was made of, who its members were, and their specific needs. At the time, there were only nine members, four of whom were in executive leadership positions. "It was a very small chapter," Dr. Stewart said. "We had to focus on growing the membership to support these big goals because their big thing was service. They wanted to find professional development through different community service initiatives and on-campus service. I thought that was amazing, but to do that we needed members."

During the entire first half of the fall semester, PRSSA focused on growing its membership. Those efforts worked as membership increased from 8 to 31 active members. "I was extremely proud of them," Dr. Stewart said. "What's even more amazing is that we don't have some of those eight original members because they didn't want to be active members in the organization. So, we lost members, then we recruited more, and the 31 that we have on board now are all extremely active. They come to all the meetings. They come to all the events. They want to be involved in the committees."

PRSSA members aren't the only ones with a sense of accomplishment following the recent awards. "For me," Dr. Stewart said, "it reaffirms that pushing them to do their best and make sure they're taking the time and energy to make a difference and make a change was all worth it."

About Jacksonville State University: Founded in 1883 as a state teachers' college, Jacksonville State University has grown from humble beginnings into the Alabama regional university with the highest percentage of accredited programs. Located in the Appalachian foothills midway between Birmingham and Atlanta, Jax State offers more than 150 courses of study, including over 40 online programs, at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To learn more, visit www.jsu.edu, call 1-800-231-JAX1, or e-mail jaxfacts@jsu.edu.

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Pictured at the Awards Ceremony, from left: Samantha Stubbs, Vice President of Membership; Dr. Kate Stewart, Faculty Advisor; and Ansley Joslin, President

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