February 10, 2005

Research News & Publications Office Wins Top District III Media Relations Award from Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)

For the second consecutive year, Georgia Tech’s Research News & Publications Office (RNPO) has won the top award for media relations programs in the District III Advancement Awards Program of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). RNPO also won awards for publishing Georgia Tech's Research Horizons Magazine, and for photography used in Research Horizons and the Georgia Tech Research Institute annual report.

Georgia Tech's "Research News" program, which communicates the results of research through international, national, state and local news media, won the CASE District III "Grand Award" in the media relations program category. The Research News & Publications Office won the same award a year ago.

CASE District III includes the Southeast United States.

Georgia Tech's Research Horizons Magazine, published by RNPO, won an "Award of Excellence" in the CASE District III program. Photographs taken by freelancer Gary W. Meek of the "All-in-One" dental tool under development in the Georgia Tech Research Institute won a "Special Merit Award."

In 2004, the Research News & Publications Office won a bronze medal for research, medicine and science news writing in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education’s (CASE) national “Circle of Excellence” awards program.

There were 16 entries in the category, and RNPO’s medal was one of only three – one gold, one silver and one bronze – awarded in that category for 2004. CASE is the leading professional organization for professionals in higher education advancement.

The 2004 national award came on the heels of a "Grand Award" won by RNPO’s overall “Research News” media relations program in the CASE District III awards program. The grand award is the top award for this category.

Over the past six years, RNPO has won 18 CASE District III awards for media relations, Research Horizons Magazine and the Advanced Technology Development Center's newsletter.

The Research News & Publications Office provides media relations and other communications services to Georgia Tech's research and service programs, including the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Tech academic colleges, the Economic Development Institute, Advanced Technology Development Center and VentureLab. For the Georgia Tech Research Institute and Georgia Tech’s vice-provost for research, it operates the “Research News” program to provide national and international visibility for Georgia Tech research developments and publishes Research Horizons magazine.

The national award was for news releases on a

• A new technique for bacterial detoxification of hazardous wastes 
  
• Microneedles as a drug delivery technique
  
• Development of new nanometer-scale structures known as nanosprings
  
• A reverse manufacturing technique designed to reduce electronic wastes
  
• The “Recon-Round” being developed by GTRI researchers to help infantry troops see enemy formations ahead of them.

The five news releases together generated more than 100 news clippings with a total circulation of more than 12 million readers. Among the publications carrying the research news were The New York Times, Business Week, Industry Week, Discover, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Popular Science, Chemical & Engineering News, Science News, Technology Review, Design News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sensors and R&D Magazine.

The Research News & Publications Office includes Lincoln Bates (editor, EDI publications), T.J. Becker (part-time writer), Jennifer Woo (student assistant), Keith Freck (Web author), Jane Sanders (editor, Research Horizons), and John Toon (manager).