(PHOENIX, Ariz., March 24, 2005) - Phoenix College received two prestigious Paragon awards at the recent National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR) conference in Minneapolis. The community college was recognized with a Gold Paragon award in the Brochure/Flyer Series category and a Silver Paragon for Outdoor Advertising.

The Paragon Awards recognize outstanding achievement in communications at community, junior and technical colleges. It is the only national competition of its kind to exclusively honor outstanding marketing and public relations programs at two-year colleges. There were over 1,753 nominations for this year's competition in 53 categories and more than 286 colleges participated.

This was the largest competition in NCMPR history. This year, nominations were also received from 2-year colleges located in Canada, United Kingdom, and Bahamas.

The brochure series divides the College's 200-plus study programs into nine coordinated pieces based on career paths, using themes like "Care for Others," "Get Wired for Success" and "Answer the Call of Public Service." They are distributed in a custom display rack to area high schools and employers.

The "Forwarding Addresses" outdoor advertising campaign utilizes 14' x 48' billboards to emphasize the College's strong commitment to teaching, learning and student success. The ads list top tier universities like Harvard, Berkeley and Stanford where PC graduates transfer to and instructors study at, and top companies like Xerox, Disney and Honeywell where graduates have earned jobs.

The campaigns were developed with Propeller Communications in Phoenix.

NCMPR is an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). The organization is dedicated to fostering the professional development of college communications staff in a variety of areas, including marketing, public and media relations, community and alumni relations, publications, enrollment management and special events coordination.

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