AU students participating in national public relations competition
ASHLAND, Ohio – Four Ashland University students—Mikayla Alcantar, Dana Krukovska, Katelyn Meeks and Maksym Polianskyi— are taking part in the 2025 Public Relations Society of America (PRSSA) Bateman Case Study Competition this semester by developing a public relations campaign on behalf of EveryLibrary. Each student is a member of AU’s PRSSA chapter and the Bateman Case Study Competition is PRSSA’s premier national competition for public relations students.
EveryLibrary is an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting public libraries nationwide. AU’s Bateman team seeks to strengthen and diversify EveryLibrary’s grassroots base by reaching out to rural communities and college campuses. The team’s messages focus on the role public libraries play in small towns across the country, where the local library is more than just books. It provides free services such as technology access, job search assistance, tax preparation help, craft meetups and educational workshops for all ages. It also documents and preserves the community’s history and serves as a community gathering place.
“A library is more than just books. Of course, literature, movies, computers—we offer all of that. But a library is also a concept of a third space: We have our homes as one place, we have our work as another place and the third place is where you go without being charged but still participating in the community life,” explained Sandra Hedlund Tunnell, the current president of the Ashland Public Library’s Board of Trustees. “That’s what a library is, a gathering community spot that doesn’t require anything from you besides your participation.”
The Bateman team is creating multimedia content and implementing strategies to engage the Ashland community and fellow AU students in grassroots advocacy for public funding and access to libraries. Follow AU’s Bateman campaign on Facebook and Instagram, and boost the student PR campaign by filling out a pledge of support for EveryLibrary here.
The Bateman Case Study Competition was established in 1973 and named in honor of J. Carroll Bateman, a prominent public relations practitioner. The competition challenges teams of students to research, plan, implement and evaluate a public relations campaign for an actual client. More than 75 teams enter the competition each year, providing students real-world experience. After an extensive judging process, three finalists are chosen to present their campaigns to the sponsor, which receives the right to the ideas presented.