Vanderbilt Political Review wins PRSA award

The Vanderbilt Political Review won an Award of Merit for its work in sponsoring the Nashville Intercollegiate Activism Conference at the twenty-fourth annual Public Relations Society of America Parthenon Awards in Nashville. The PRSA offers awards to recognize excellence in public relations among professionals and community members, and has a special awards division dedicated to promoting public relations creativity among students.

Co-president Gracie Smith accepted the award on behalf of fellow co-president Matt Taylor and VPR at the 2010 awards dinner, which was held April 28 at the Hutton Hotel. VPR is thrilled of the honor bestowed by the PRSA upon the first execution of NIAC and is excited about the promise NIAC holds for encouraging political dialogue among Nashville students in the future.

NIAC was held on February 27, 2010, at the Commons on Peabody Campus. Attendees included Congressman Zach Wamp, Congressman Jim Cooper, then-gubernatorial candidate Kim McMillan, and several other state, national, and local candidates. Professor Linda Peek-Schacht of Lipscomb, Klint Alexander and John Lachs of Vanderbilt, and Brian Russell of Tennessee State composed the professors panel. Various student and local activists hosted other panels for the purpose of promoting open discussion about student activism today in the context of the Civil Rights sit-ins held in Nashville fifty years ago.