The Rutherford School District won statewide recognition for the second year in a row for communications. Hosted by the New Jersey School Public Relations Association (NJSPRA), the annual School Communications Awards recognize outstanding print and electronic supporting material in New Jersey education communications programs.
This year, Rutherford Public Schools won 3rd Place in the Special Interest Publication category for the four-page newsletter mailed by the district in February. The mailer included upbeat stories like staff spotlights, which called attention to those who went above and beyond to connect with students during a very challenging year.
NJSPRA developed the School Communication Awards competition to “recognize professional school communicators and other school leaders managing communications for developing tools that go above and beyond in disseminating important messages to their publics.”
Last year, Rutherford won 1st Place in the Special Interest Publication category for the four-page newsletter mailed by the district in advance of its September 2019 bond referendum and 2nd Place in the Marketing/Branding/Image category for the “One Rutherford” theme that is symbolized by a collegiate-looking R whose backbone doubles as a 1.
This year, 78 entries were submitted for eight different award categories – the largest number of submissions to date. Judges were communications professionals from nine states.
“We are thrilled and honored to be recognized again by the New Jersey School Public Relations Association,” said Jack Hurley, Superintendent of Rutherford School District. “We really worked hard last year to keep the community up to date with what was happening within the district. The newsletter was created to not just share information, but also some positivity during a time when many people were really hit with pandemic fatigue.”