The Arthur W. Page Society, a select membership organization for senior corporate communications and public relations executives, today announced that students from the Mendoza School of Business at Notre Dame, the Tuck School at Dartmouth College and the Darden School at the University of Virginia are winners in its second annual Case Studies Competition in Corporate Communications. For the second time, the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame captured the Grand Prize.

The Page Society established the competition as part of its commitment to advancing knowledge of the communications profession among future business leaders and encouraging US business schools to educate students on the full range of communications and reputation management challenges confronting business leaders today. Conducted in partnership with the Institute for Public Relations and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Foundation, the competition drew 19 submissions, three times as many as last year. Ten universities submitted cases.

In addition to the Grand Prize, the competition awarded first, second and third prizes in the area crisis or issues management and a first prize from among general submissions. Details of the winners are as follows:

The Grand Prize carries a cash award of $5,000 to the students and $1,500 to the students' faculty advisor. Cash awards in other categories are First Prize: $2,500 to students and $750 to advisors; Second Prize: $1,500 to students and $500 to advisors and Third Prize: $750 to students and $250 to advisors. The Grand Prize winners will be invited to receive their award at the Page Society's 20th anniversary gala dinner on April 3 in New York.

The competition issues a call primarily to business school students at the beginning of the academic year for original case studies focused on corporate communications and the practice of public relations.

This year's winners were selected from 16 submissions that met Page evaluation criteria such as: purpose, relevance and timeliness; significance of the business problem and critical issues identified and explored; the demonstration of the use of Page Principles; how well the program addresses a substantive challenge and its importance to the organization; how the interests of the organization and constituents were served; and how the impact of the communication was measured.

"The marketplace and society as a whole are much better served by business men and women who understand the impact of the broad breadth of communications issues on commerce. By having this understanding, executives are well prepared to render more informed decisions," said Dave Drobis, senior partner and chairman, Ketchum, and president of the Page Society. "As an example, we saw last year how the essential principles and practices of honesty, conducting business in the public interest and reputation management have never been more important."

Ward White, vice president, communications, Northwestern Mutual and co-chair, Institute for Public Relations, added, "Our economic system requires that our CEOs have a mastery of the communications process, but most MBA programs generally provide little training in the field. The Page Society's case studies competition aims to change this." White served on the distinguished panel of judges for the competition.

The panel also included: Professors Kristen Bell DeTienne of Brigham Young University, Craig Snow of Cornell University, Carl Maugeri of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Maria P. Russell of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, along with corporate representative Priscilla Luce of Northrop Grumman and Richard J. Martin of AT&T (retired); and agency representatives Wayne Hill of Edward Howard & Co. and Richard S. Kline of Fleishman-Hillard, Inc.

James S. O'Rourke was the faculty advisor for all of the winners from Notre Dame. Paul A. Argenti was the advisor at Dartmouth and Elizabeth Powell the advisor at the University of Virginia.

About the Arthur W. Page Society

The Arthur W. Page Society is a professional association composed primarily of the chief communications officers (CCOs) of the world's top multinational corporations, and the CEOs of the world's largest public relations agencies. The organization's members also include academics from the leading business and communications schools.

The Page Society is dedicated to strengthening the management policy role of chief communications officers. The Page Society is upheld by management concepts, known as the Page Principles, which have been tested for more than half a century and have earned the support and respect of chief executive officers throughout the country. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Arthur W. Page Society.