Oklahoma Christian University’s Public Relations (PR) students placed among the top-15 universities in the nation in the 2023 Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman Competition. Eagle PR worked with the non-profit News Literacy Project to conduct research and provide resources to help students filter through misinformation in a digital age.
Ciana Fryar and Sydney Turner were the co-directors of the project. The participating staff associates included Stephanie Heredia, Trinity Langan and Hope Tugman. Other members of Eagle PR included Zani Fuller, Lynker Mugire and Sophie Mae Smith. Associate Professor of Communication Josh Watson served as adviser.
“The work these OC students did was phenomenal, especially given some truly difficult challenges this spring,” Watson said. “Ciana and Sydney inspired and encouraged the team of almost all first-semester PRSSA members to achieve more than the team thought possible.”
The “Know Your Facts” campaign focused on “calling the community to ask questions, verify sources and share knowledge.” They created their own website to provide resources on vetting sources.
Since 2016, Eagle PR has ranked in the top-15 three times. Oklahoma Christian was the only university in Oklahoma to rank in the top-15 and the only school to attain that high ranking multiple times.
The campaign’s logo featured Abraham Lincoln with the caption, “Don’t trust everything you see on the internet.” The logo was based on a meme of Lincoln warning of internet misinformation. Eagle PR found the ironic image useful for branding.
Eagle PR students poured countless hours into this project and even shed tears over it. Trinity Langan shared a story of the final moments before submitting the project.
Stress ignited the PR room when their adviser Josh Watson discovered they were one page over the limit for the brief. With only thirty minutes left before submission time, the students scrambled to make final edits and perfect the document before sending it off.
After they submitted the project, tears of exhaustion and relief flowed as the feeling of completion filled the room.
“When we found out we were an honorable mention, there was a feeling of ‘glad we didn’t cry for nothing,’” Langan said. “It shows that little OC has big guns in their departments.”
Another challenge the students faced was timing. The project’s deadline collided with one of Oklahoma Christian’s busiest weeks of the semester, Spring Sing.
“We were really proud of our team being able to pull it together,” Langan said. “Not only did we perform very well and get a good rating, but the communication we had to share with each other over our schedules was so difficult close to the end of the semester.”
Although the contest results were announced in May, the PR team got to carry their success into the fall semester.
“A funny moment was when we saw ourselves on the screen in chapel. We flipped out because we were like, ‘People care,’” Langan said. “There was a big moment of excitement when it went through our group chat as a ‘We did it, guys.’”
As students of Oklahoma Christian, this win signifies something greater.
“News literacy is really about truth, something that is central to the Christian call. These winning students have such a bright future in PR,” Watson said.
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