UFCJC 2026 Bateman National Case Study Competition team teaches PR fundamentals to campus startups and student entrepreneurs for national client ACCESS Newswire
University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Public Relations students are once again participating in the annual Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Bateman National Case Study Competition.
The 2026 Bateman team includes Silvana Noriega, Ava Markel, Elena Limonta, Maya Vaidya, Grace Anderson and Abigail Schenker who will creating a campaign for ACCESS Newswire’s new educational program. The program allows college professors access to the platform free of charge, giving students hands-on experience with press release distribution, media pitching and coverage tracking across every channel.
Campaign entries must include a plan to drive adoption of ACCESS Newswire’s platform by professors nationwide, integrating it into their teaching curriculum to train students in essential PR and media skills and to increase brand awareness among universities as institutions. The goal is to highlight ACCESS Newswire as a trusted partner for their own news distribution, media services and newsroom needs.
As part of the campaign, UFCJC Bateman team members are working on a professional education program teaching public relations fundamentals to campus startups and student entrepreneurs, to show them how strategic communication helps create buzz, build credibility and support fundraising and growth.
Their work includes presentations to the UF “Intro to Entrepreneurship” course which reaches more than 750 students, as well as a session with participants in The Big Challenge competition, where teams are actively building and pitching ventures. They are also working with UF Alpha PR clients that are on-campus start-ups, such as Ribit, a ride-sharing app created by two engineering students. The group will also present in UF Innovate – Accelerate, to further extend the reach of this work.
The UF Bateman team’s campaign dovetails nicely with Access Newswire’s new Education program that offers free PR platform access to students and educators. In addition to educating PR professors and students about the platform, the team is also focusing on entrepreneurs by teaching UF start-ups foundational PR skills to demonstrate how public relations builds credibility and visibility and showing them how to use the platform at no cost.
Beyond UF, the students are taking this work nationally through a free webinar for entrepreneurship professors and small-business associations, equipping faculty and professionals with practical a PR framework they can integrate into curricula and programming. The goal is to help future founders better understand how strategic communication supports venture growth, credibility and long-term success.
The Bateman Case Study Competition is PRSSA’s premier national case study competition for public relations students and gives you an opportunity to apply your classroom education and internship experiences to create and implement a full public relations campaign.
The UFJCJ Bateman Team placed first in the competition in 2023 and 2024 and second place in 2022, 2020, 2015 and 2012.
Category: College News, Student News
Tagged: Abigail Schenker ACCESS Newswire Ava Markel Christine Bucan Elena Limonta Grace Anderson Maya Vaidya PRSA Bateman National Case Study Competition Silvana Noriega
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