Shelinder earns national marketing award

Shawnda Schelinder, marketing and public relations associate for Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College Ashland, was recently awarded a Gold Paragon for feature article/general news writing. The award was presented by National Council for Marketing and Public Relations at the national conference held in Philadelphia.

(3/25/11): For just about every occupation under the sun there exists a means to honor those in that particular field. For film, there are the Academy Awards, television professionals have the Emmys; academic pioneers earn Nobel Prizes; and for two-year college communication professionals, there are the Paragons.

“Well, perhaps the Paragons aren’t as prestigious as the Oscars or a Nobel Prize, but it’s still an incredible honor,” said Shawnda Schelinder, marketing and public relations associate for Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College Ashland.

Schelinder was recently awarded a Gold Paragon for feature article/general news writing. The award was presented by National Council for Marketing and Public Relations at the national conference held in Philadelphia.

Schelinder’s article “A Triumph of Spirit” appeared in WITC’s spring 2010 Career Impact magazine. It featured the inspirational story of Daniel and Deborah Tull, therapeutic massage students who graduated from WITC-Ashland last May. Daniel had sustained life-threatening injuries in a logging accident and was told he would never walk again. Thanks to a supportive wife and an indomitable spirit, Daniel did learn to walk again and found the strength to complete a career program that can be physically demanding.

The Paragon Award judges commented, “What a story of hope and success. It shows how one person can live again, with the help of his wife and WITC. A wonderful triumph of spirit.”

Previously, Schelinder was honored by the regional NCMPR Medallion Awards for the same article. WITC also earned a Silver Medallion for online services, a Bronze Medallion for a recruitment campaign and a Bronze Medallion for its Career Impact magazine.

NCMPR’s Paragon Awards recognize outstanding achievement in communications at community, junior and technical colleges and is the only national competition of its kind that honors excellence exclusively among marketing and public relations professionals at two-year colleges. This year, member community colleges entered more than 1,870 marketing and public relations pieces in over 40 categories, ranging from publications, photography and electronic entries to news articles, campaigns and television and radio advertisements.

As one of the fastest-growing affiliates of the American Association of Community Colleges, NCMPR has more than 1,550 members from more than 600 colleges across the United States, Canada and the Bahamas.

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Shelinder earns national marketing award