Fordham Students Take Home Pollie Awards

Graduate students in the elections and campaign management program at Fordham University have won a combined total of five Student Pollie Awards given by the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC).
 
Awarded annually by the AAPC, the Pollies are the most prestigious awards in the political campaign and public affairs industry. This year, as in several years in the past, Fordham students received more Pollie Awards than any other institution.
 
Fordham’s Pollie Award recipients are:
 
•         Shelly Bendit: “Best Campaign Plan” (Silver); “Best Use of Direct Mail” (Bronze); “Best Use of Television Ad” (Silver).
•         Lucas de Aragao: “Best Use of Radio Ad” (Bronze); “Best Use of Television Ad” (Bronze).
 
“We are so proud of our students and delighted that the AAPC has recognized these students for excellence in political strategy and communication,” said Costas Panagopoulos, Ph.D., director of the master’s program in elections and campaign management (ECM) at Fordham. “The Pollie winners exemplify the standard of excellence that students in the ECM program are trained to achieve.”
 
Most of the entries that Fordham students submitted were developed as part of the “Strategies of Political Communication” course co-taught during the fall 2012 term by veteran instructors and leading political strategists Joseph Mercurio and Bart Robbett.
 
The students received their awards on April 4 at the AAPC’s 20th Annual Pollie Awards and Conference in Washington.
 
The AAPC is a multi-partisan trade association with more than 2,500 members from all 50 states, territories and other countries. Membership reflects a wide range of ideologies, partisan affiliations and professional specialties, and includes students and academics.