STLCC Earns Paragon Award from NCMPR

St. Louis Community College recently received a 2021 Paragon Award from the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations.  

The College’s marketing and communications team received the Paragon Silver Award for the “Take One on Us” flyer series/campaign.  

With added financial strain some students faced due to the coronavirus pandemic, “Take a Class on Us” provided qualifying students with scholarship and grant opportunities to earn three credits for free to help them stay on track toward completing a degree or certificate. The posters were part of the overall marketing and communications strategy. 

Special recognition goes to Jennifer Reed, district marketing manager, for writing and Julie Conway, graphic design lead, for her innovative design work.

Judges had these comments about the entry:

• “YES! This design is fun and simple, easy to follow, and highly relevant to our audience.”
• “The way you took the real photo and added graphics to it to soften it up has great impact.” 

Other marketing and communications team members are Kedra Tolson, executive director; Nez Savala, communications manager; Derek Lewis, senior web designer/developer; Shantana Stewart, marketing and communications coordinator at Florissant Valley; Gina Tarte, marketing and communications coordinator at Wildwood; Jason Young, marketing and communications coordinator at Forest Park; Wesley Buchek, marketing and communications coordinator at Meramec; Skye Peters, interactive producer; Marlena Renner, email and graphic communication specialist; and Pat Matreci, part-time content specialist. Former employees who also participated in the project were Ben Shasshere, George Sackett and Jackie Johnson.

STLCC took silver in this year’s competition ahead of Dallas College in Texas and just behind Northwest College in Wyoming. 

NCMPR’S Paragon Awards recognize outstanding achievement in design and communication at community and technical colleges. It’s the only national competition of its kind that honors excellence exclusively among marketing and PR professionals at two-year colleges.

The 2021 Paragon Awards drew 1,719 entries from 232 colleges across the country and was judged by nearly 70 professionals from the marketing and public relations industry. Entries stretched from coast to coast and from Vancouver, Canada, to Florida.

View top entries in the “Winners’ Showcase."