The Communications team in the Hazelwood School District emerged as big winners after the annual Missouri School Public Relations Association (MOSPRA) awards.
Staff members won 16 awards in a variety of categories including photography, website design, informational brochure, educational video, staff newsletter and news releases.
The awards, part of MOSPRA’s annual spring conference, are broken into three categories: excellence, merit and commendation.
Thirteen public relations professionals outside of the school public relations field served as this year’s judges. Each entry was reviewed by two judges to give differing perspectives on each piece.
The department earned two awards of excellence, which is the highest honor. The team also earned seven merit and seven commendation awards. The Hazelwood informational brochure and a photograph taken at a Veterans’ Day celebration received the excellence awards.
“One of the best features of the MOSPRA awards program is the constructive criticism each entry receives,” said Diana Gulotta, assistant to the superintendent for communication for HSD. “This feedback is crucial as we strive toward the improvement in the quality of the work completed by this department.”
Department employees winning awards include Gulotta, Sandra Jordan, director of communications and media relations, Chuck Bolinger, communications specialist; Chad Kreitler, webmaster; and Hal Donovan, video specialist.