by Dr. Bonnie Riechert

Belmont University graduates and students were honored by the Public Relations Society of America Nashville Chapter at the recent 2021 Parthenon Awards at City Winery. Area public relations and communications professionals attended the event to celebrate the accomplishments of their colleagues.

Michelle Ward, Belmont Class of 2013 (B.A., public relations) and Class of 2016 (M. Ed., organizational leadership and communication), received the 2021 Mercury Award recognizing a young professional for accelerated career progress, leadership potential, community involvement and professionalism.

Ward is senior director of marketing communications at New Classrooms. She is also the recipient of 2021 Parthenon Awards in the integrated communications category and in the marketing (business to business) category and a 2016 PR Platinum Award for Branding/Re-Positioning. As an undergraduate at Belmont, she served as an officer in Belmont University Public Relations Student Society of America and was a student worker in the Office of Communications.

Two awards were presented in the student category, one featuring a team of Belmont students. A team compiled of Emma dela Pena, Katie McAdams (Class of 2020), Nicole Jones (Class of 2021) and Lexi Stewart received an Award of Merit for their team’s campaign, “Picture Present: Adapting to a Digital Landscape,” conducted on behalf of Open Table Nashville. The campaign was produced in public relations campaigns, a service-learning class, in fall 2020.

The Public Relations Society of America is the nation’s leading professional organization serving the public relations and communications community. The Nashville professional chapter includes almost 200 members and sponsors Public Relations Student Society of America Chapters at Austin Peay State University, Belmont University, Lipscomb University, Middle Tennessee State University and Western Kentucky University. Students from Belmont University and Tennessee State University served as volunteers at the awards banquet.