HATTIESBURG - Several members of The University of Southern Mississippi Marketing and Public Relations staff and Alumni Association staff won awards recently at the College Public Relations Association's 2003 conference held in Tupelo.

Categories of competition based on work produced last year included submissions from universities and four-year colleges and community colleges across the state.

Steve Rouse, a native of Vicksburg and longtime member of the Southern Miss Department of Marketing and Public Relations staff, won a number of awards, including sweeping first, second and third places in the black and white photo category. Rouse, who serves as media production manager for the department, also won second place in the color photo category, and first place in the television spots category. In addition, Rouse was selected as vice president of the CPRAM board for the coming year.

Other Southern Miss Marketing and Public Relations Department staff members who won awards included Jana Bryant, marketing and publications coordinator, who won first place in the category of tabloid publication for production of Update, the Southern Miss faculty and staff news publication; Jenny Watson, web developer, who won third place for creation of the department's Web site in the website category, and David Tisdale, senior communications specialist, who won first place in the sports story category.

The Southern Miss Alumni Association won first place in the Web site category, and Yvonne Arnold, archives specialist at McCain Library, and Bonnie Gibbs, editor of the Southern Miss alumni magazine The Talon, together won first place in the special publications category for The Drawl.

Members of the Southern Miss Gulf Coast public relations and marketing and recruitment staff also won awards, including manager of marketing and recruitment Catherine Sliman, who took second place in the advertisement category; Diana Reid, graphic designer for the Southern Miss College of Marine Sciences, who won first place in the single piece of artwork category, and Shelia White, director of public relations for the Southern Miss Gulf Coast, who won second place in the public relations innovation category.

White, Sliman and public relations coordinator Chris Rolley together won third place in the public relations campaign category and Linda Skupien, public information officer for the College of Marine Science, Reid, Dr. Howard Walters, Dr. Sharon H. Walker, Dr. Patricia Pinson, Kim Thompson, Judy Thurman, the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, Cynthia Ramseur, Nicole Anderson and The Nature Conservancy won first place in the creative partners category.

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