The Public Affairs team at KU School of Medicine-Wichita recently earned several state and national awards for their communication efforts on behalf of the medical school.

The team, consisting of Belinda Venters, director; Jennifer Eaton, senior communications coordinator; and Darcy Gray, digital communications coordinator, won several awards from the Kansas Professional Communicators' state communications contest. First-place winners in the KPC contest went on to compete in the 2022 National Communications Contest sponsored by the National Federation of Press Women. The national contest winners were announced June 25 during the 2022 NFPW Conference in Fargo, N.D.

• Jennifer Eaton received an honorable mention from KPC in the electronic newsletter category for Jayhawk Talk Online.
• Darcy Gray was awarded first place from KPC in the photographer-writer category for "Women in Medicine inspire Girl Scouts during career-themed field day." She was also awarded first place at the national competition.
• Belinda Venters was awarded first place from KPC in the ghost-written article category for "50 years and counting," the dean's column in Embark KU Wichita magazine, and she also received second place at the national competition.
• Darcy Gray, Jennifer Eaton and Belinda Venters were awarded first place from KPC in the electronic newsletter category for the KU School of Medicine-Wichita e-newsletter and received an honorable mention at the national competition.
• Belinda Venters, Jennifer Eaton and Darcy Gray were awarded first place from KPC in the publication editing category for Embark KU Wichita magazine, and went on to also place first at the national competition.

In May, Kansas hospitals and health systems were recognized for excellence in public relations and marketing efforts by the Kansas Association of Health Care Communicators (KAHCC) through its Emerald Awards competition. Emerald Awards are given biennially to Kansas hospitals and health systems that excel in internal communications, external communications, special events, advertising and other categories. Three marketing professionals from Georgia with extensive experience in health care marketing evaluated this year’s 74 entries for planning and research, implementation, cost effectiveness and results.

The 2022 Emerald Awards were presented at the KAHCC Spring Conference on May 6 in Hays, Kansas. The Public Affairs team at KU School of Medicine-Wichita received the following awards:

• External Communications – Other Publication, Emerald Award, Embark KU Wichita
• Advertising – Total Campaign, Emerald Award, We Doc This
• Writing, Emerald Award, “Women in medicine inspire Girl Scouts” – Darcy Gray
• External Communications – Newsletter, Certificate of Merit, KU School of Medicine-Wichita e-newsletter