THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Guests at last spring's Currituck County Schools' Volunteers Banquet declared their first hoedown a huge success.
Now a statewide association says it's a winner, too.
Diane Knox of Currituck County Public Schools was awarded the top prize for promotional projects - specifically the western-style banquet - among small school systems by the North Carolina School Public Relations Association.
``I really want to thank the volunteers who worked with the banquet,'' Knox said after returning from the three-day conference in Wilmington.
``I think that was a really important part of why we won the award because it was a community event.''
Knox, who also took top honors for her 1992-93 annual report, was far from alone among northeastern North Carolina schools public relations officials who came home a winner.
Eight of 38 statewide awards were given to public schools officials in the six-county Albemarle area.
``It was a really good year for our region,'' Knox said.
``Normally, we only have one or two people from this area who win.''
Among this year's recipients was winner Charles White, whose annual report for the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Schools was deemed exceptionally creative and useful.
``This is the first time I've won one, and it is only the second blue-ribbon award that the school system has received since we began entering the competition in the 1970s,'' said White, the director of school community relations.
More than 135 entries were submitted for the annual competition. Most of the entries were judged by members of the Madison Messenger, a Piedmont area newspaper.
``We felt very good that we had a very strong showing for the region because it gives the indication that we are doing great things up here on a low budget,'' White said Tuesday.
That's exactly what Jeanie Umphlet of Perquimans County did to help earn her award for top community newsletter.
With a $150 budget, Umphlet put together a concise, attractive and readable newsletter for Perquimans County Schools members.
Other local winners were Kathy Newbern and Dr. H. Leon Hollerman of Dare County and Michelle Alexander of Edenton-Chowan Schools.
Newbern took top honors for color photography and a Dare County Schools' general information brochure, which judges called ``a detailed and extremely focused project.''
Hollerman, the Dare schools superintendent, was noted for his promotion of ``attractive and meaningful'' March of Dimes Walk T-shirts worn by staff members dedicated to the community cause.
It's rare for a superintendent to win a public relations award.
``While (Newbern) might have assisted, it was his major project,'' said Myra Moore, vice president of the 155-member North Carolina Schools Public Relations Association.
``It's very unusual for it to go to a superintendent, but he is a member of the organization,'' she said Tuesday.
Michelle Alexander of Edenton received praise and a prize for her promotional packet explaining the Chowan County school systems' year-round education program.
``The ambitious undertaking to remove the misconceptions and controversies from Year-Round Schooling with a parents' meeting utilizing graphics and a five-part format was inspired,'' judges wrote.
``Often new undertakings such as Year-Round are thrown at the public with little explanation. The presentation to parents was the perfect approach,'' they continued.
The statewide organization is an affiliate of the national Schools Public Relations Association. by CNB