News 2007-2008

School of Mass Communications awards $90,000 and honors two media executives

Fifty-two undergraduate and graduate students won more than $90,000 in scholarships at the School of Mass Communications annual awards dinner held in late April in the Sam and Martha Gibbons Alumni Center. Two mass communications alumni who are Florida media executives also received awards at the event.

The scholarships, awarded for academic merit and ranging in value from $500 to $4,000, were provided by more than 100 media organizations and individuals who have contributed to the school’s endowment funds.

The two media executives honored were Jordan Zimmerman of Zimmerman Advertising in Fort Lauderdale and PGA Tour executive Barbara Emener Karasek.

Zimmerman, a 1980 School of Mass Communications graduate, received the 2008 Kappa Tau Alpha Hall of Fame Award. Kappa Ta Alpha is the national honorary society serving journalism and mass communications. Zimmerman is founder and chairman of the 15th largest advertising agency in the United States. The company has offices throughout the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Atlanta.

Karasek, who earned a master’s degree from the School of Mass Communications in 1995, received the 2008 Outstanding Alumnus Award. Karasek, a Tampa native now residing in Jacksonville, is the director of corporate marketing for the PGA TOUR and oversees the year-round marketing activation initiatives for corporate sponsors. Prior to joining the PGA TOUR, Karasek held positions with NASCAR, the United States Olympic Committee and The Zimmerman Agency.

School advertising undergraduates honored for creative excellence

A School of Mass Communications senior advertising major won a Student Gold ADDY award in the national 2008 ADDY Awards Competition, and other 14 other advertising students won regional awards.

The senior advertising student, Megan Lurcott, won the national ADDY award at an American Advertising Federation award presentation in June 2008 in Atlanta.

The ADDY Awards, the world’s largest advertising competition conducted annually by the AAF, represent creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types and by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world. The AAF, a not-for-profit industry association, conducts the ADDY Awards through its 200-member advertising clubs and 15 districts. The ADDY award program is the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry.

The national awards showcase 73 categories of advertising, including the Student ADDY Awards designed exclusively for college students. The national competition is unique among all advertising competitions in that it is comprised of three levels of judging beginning at the local club level, regional competitions and the national finals. Fewer than 20 Student Gold ADDY winners are selected from thousands of student entries, representing more than 200 colleges across the country.

School of Mass Communications undergraduates also took home five Student Gold ADDY awards and nine Student Silver ADDYs at the Annual Fourth District American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards Gala in February 2008 in Ybor City.

"This is a remarkable achievement of advertising students and faculty," said Scott Liu, Zimmerman Endowed Professor. "It represents the seal of approval from the pros, a clear indicator of the quality of advertising education at USF, and a major step toward greater success in the future."

Hal Vincent, account director at award-winning Tampa advertising agency Pyper, Paul and Kinney, said, “These awards speak volumes to the amazing progress and strong caliber of student coming out of the Zimmerman Advertising Program. Advertising award show judges don’t just hand out recognition because a student enters. Students are evaluated much like the professionals and to win so many awards, considering that the USF degree is a complete education and not just an art school or portfolio refinery for the purpose of advertising, demonstrates how versed the students are of the entire advertising business.” Vincent has been teaching USF advertising students since 2006.

The students all are enrolled in the Zimmerman Advertising Program, which is part of the School of Mass Communications and which is supported by Jordan Zimmerman of Zimmerman Advertising in Fort Lauderdale.