ISPRA Communications Awards 2017

Last year, Woodward Academy competed in the Iowa School Public Relations Association (ISPRA) Communications Awards competition for the first time and scored really well, winning 3 out of 4 categories where we submitted entries. After last year's experience, we wanted to continue that expectation of excellence for our communications, but also knew that the competition would be equally as fierce from all school districts.

Of the 20 events, we identified 6 categories where we felt we could perform well, which included Brochure, Photography, Print Newsletter, Social Media, Video, and Website. As a local chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA), it is policy that another state score the submissions based on rubrics, and this year the Arizona chapter judged the Iowa submissions.

The rubric for each submission looks at design, clarity and focus, writing quality, evaluation, and overall effect. When averaged together, if a submission scores between 7-8, they earn an Award of Merit. Scores between 8-10 earned an Award of Excellence. Out of that pool, submissions that scored 9 and above are eligible to earn the top honor: the Blue & Gold Award as the best in the state.

This year, there were 98 entries from 20 different school districts, the most ever for ISPRA. On Thursday, April 20, the results were announced and Woodward Academy once again scored well. Of the six categories, 1 submission received an Award of Merit (Social Media), and the other 5 all received high scores in the Award of Excellence range. Of those, 2 received the top prize of the Blue & Gold Award (print newsletter and website), and were recognized as the best in the state. This was the second year in a row that our Knightly Knews was recognized with the top award, and the website category recognized our newly launched site. You can see all of the results on the ISPRA website, and below is a recap of how Woodward Academy performed.

Iowa School Public Relations Association
Print Newsletter - Knightly Knews Vol. 38 and 39 - Blue & Gold Award
Website - www.wwacademy.com - Blue & Gold Award
Photography - Cross Country 2016 - Award of Excellence
Video - Become a Knight video series - Award of Excellence
Brochure - Become a Knight - Award of Excellence
Social Media - Facebook Page - Award of Merit

New Website Features

On February 21, Woodward Academy launched its new website under the same URL home: www.wwacademy.com. This redesigned site boasts a modern, colorful design, full of images and videos from campus, and offers quick and easy access to essential information about the school and programming.

Discussions of a new website began in April 2016 and formally got underway a few months later in August. The previous site had been live for nearly 10 years and had gone mostly unchanged during the time. Although much of the available content was still accurate, the site was dated and very much not in line with the rest of the school’s communications pieces.

Woodward Academy's communications plan consists of a quarterly newsletter (the Knightly Knews), Knight Pics website, a blog, YouTube channel, Facebook page, and various other print publications. They all hold a consistent style, which the current website lacked. Rather than update the current site, a complete redesign was decided upon to bring it in line with the other pieces of the communications plan.

In order to maintain the aesthetic of Woodward Academy's other communication pieces, the design of the website was developed in-house rather than outsourced to a web development company. Communications Director, Eric Smidt, compiled the content of each page, mapped the new site, and designed within Adobe Photoshop. Once mocked up, the Photoshop files were passed on to Willetts Technology, who was responsible for converting those files into web compatible versions for the new site. Willetts Technology maintains all web hosting and maintenance for the schools under the umbrella of Sequel Youth and Family Services. After seven months of design and development, the new site was complete.

NSPRA Communications Awards 2016

The National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) recently announced their 2016 award winners and Woodward Academy earned honors in all three categories in which we submitted. The Golden Achievement Award was given to our comprehensive communications program. Our submission was judged based on the four steps of a public relations program: 1) analysis of the need; 2) planning to meet the need; 3) execution and communication of the program; and 4) formal evaluation. Woodward Academy was one of only 90 schools / districts across the United States to receive this recognition, and one of only two in the State of Iowa. Click here to see the entire list of winners.

Publication and Electronic Media awards were also handed out that recognize individual projects in 23 different categories. This year, we submitted in two categories and earned an Award of Merit of our 2015 film We Own the Knight: A High School Basketball Documentary Film and an Award of Honorable Mention in the Special Purpose Publication category for our Why Woodward Academy? Let Us Tell You 2015 Guide.

We feel proud and honored to have been given the opportunity to tell amazing Woodward Academy stories over the past year, and that those efforts have been recognized at the state and national level. These awards mark the end of this year's campaign, and the beginning of next year's push for great content. Below is a recap of our 2016 awards season:

Iowa School Public Relations Association (ISPRA)
     Print Newsletter - Knightly Knews – Blue & Gold Award
     Photography - State Basketball – Blue & Gold Award
     Video - I Am Building video series - Blue & Gold Award
     Social Media – Facebook Page - Award of Achievement

National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA)

     Comprehensive Plan - Golden Achievement Award

     Video – We Own the Knight Documentary – Award of Merit

     Special Purpose Publication – 2015 Guide – Award of Honorable Mention

ISPRA Communications Awards 2016

As a school, our communications naturally focus on student opportunities, achievements, and the amazing contributions that our staff make every day. We work really hard to tell interesting stories, and to make them visually appealing and engaging to our audience. On Thursday, April 7, some of our efforts were recognized at the Iowa School Public Relations Association (ISPRA) communications awards banquet. 

This was the first year that we submitted materials for awards consideration. Of the 20 events, we identified 4 categories where we felt we could perform well, which include Photography, Print Newsletter, Social Media, and Video. As a local chapter of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA), it is policy that another state score the submissions based on rubrics.

This year, professionals from the Colorado chapter scored Iowa's submissions. When averaged, if a submission scored between 7-8, they earned an Award of Merit. Scores between 8-10 earned an Award of Excellence. Out of that pool, submissions that scored 9 and above were eligible to earn the top honor of the Blue & Gold Award. Woodward Academy was honored to receive 3 Blue & Gold Awards, earning the top prize in photography, print newsletter, and video for our I Am Building Woodward Academy series. School districts from across the state submitted materials and this year was the largest to date. We are excited to be recognized for our efforts in this area and look forward to telling more amazing stories. 

Expanded Brochure // Download the PDF

We are excited to unveil the 2015 Guide to Woodward Academy. If you want to learn more about what it means to be a Knight on campus, you can now download our new expanded brochure. As a PDF document, this expanded brochure is perfect for printing or reading on your computer or tablet. It is great way to show prospective students and families the school they will be attending because it covers nearly every aspect of Woodward Academy life including student culture, athletics, education, and clinical services.

Next time you're on campus, you can pick a handful up and share with your families, friends, and colleagues. If you want to see it right away, it can be downloaded on our website or by clicking here.

Like us on Facebook!

We are pleased to announce that we have expanded our communications and the Knights are now blowing up the internet through Facebook. If you're active on the site, we would love for you to Like our page and follow all of the daily happenings at Woodward Academy. We plan to bring some amazing content to you and we encourage everyone to interact with us by leaving comments and liking our posts. We just launched the page earlier this week but have already generated a great following and have loaded the page with some good stuff. You can click here for a direct link to our Facebook page.