BYU Public Relations Students Took First Place in the National PRSSA Bateman Case Study Competition With Their “For the Love of EveryLibrary” Campaign
BYU public relations students — Maurielle Cook, Maria Durrans, Avery Guthrie, Alexis Hoopes, Isidora Ramírez Mauna and Adah Shippen — won first place at the 2025 National Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) Bateman Case Study Competition. Under the direction of faculty advisor Kenneth Plowman, the students designed and executed a strategic PR campaign titled “For the Love of EveryLibrary,” aimed at raising awareness and support for libraries nationwide.
The Bateman Case Study Competition is the PRSSA’s premier national case study competition. The competition began in 1973 as a national initiative to encourage PRSSA members to develop and apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills in public relations. Each year, participating students craft and implement a strategic public relations campaign for real clients.
“What makes this PRSSA program so valuable is that it lets students navigate real-world challenges,” said Ray Day, the 2025 PRSA Chair. “They’re creating campaigns, solving problems and seeing firsthand how strategy creates measurable impact. These experiences help empower our students to become exceptional communicators and professionals.”
This year’s Bateman Case Study Competition challenged students to develop a campaign for EveryLibrary, a nonprofit organization aimed at supporting, promoting and protecting public, school and college libraries across the nation. EveryLibrary works with the EveryLibrary Institute, the first national political action committee for libraries, to secure funding for libraries at the ballot box. Their combined mission is to stabilize school library budgets, guard against book bans and engage with state legislatures alongside partner organizations to safeguard and ensure access to libraries for generations to come.
The Bateman Case Study Competition tasked teams to create a strategic public relations campaign to position EveryLibrary as the leading national organization for library activists, donors and users.
BYU’s True Blue Team hit the ground running right away. The public relations students learned how to collaborate effectively as a team to conduct each step of RPIE in real life: research, planning, implementation and evaluation.
“In one of our first meetings, we agreed that while each of us would lead specific parts of the campaign based on our roles, we would all be involved in every step of the process,” Ramírez Mauna said. “That gave us a chance to explore every aspect of the campaign and made the experience feel like a complete PR journey.”
The effective division of tasks allowed for the True Blue Team to fulfill their strategic goals by accomplishing their objectives and carrying out well-planned tactics. The team centered their campaign around February, National Love Your Library Month. Their primary goal was to turn Utah mothers — who overwhelmingly love their libraries but lacked awareness of advocacy efforts — into informed and active supporters of library funding and access. The team titled their campaign “For the Love of EveryLibrary,” bringing it right to the heart of the case study by amplifying EveryLibrary’s mission to protect local libraries.
The BYU team utilized influencer collaborations, community events, targeted social media content and a key partnership with Let Utah Read to reach their target audience. Their key messages reached nearly 50,000 individuals, generated over 140 sign-ups and drew 142 event attendees.
Ramírez Mauna said, “The Bateman Competition helped me sharpen my communication skills, set clear expectations, delegate tasks, ask for help when needed and become a better listener. These are all essential skills in the PR field, where strong communication goes beyond speaking; it’s also about understanding and working well with others.”
“When a hardworking team listens to their client, stays research-focused and leans into creativity, the reward is seeing real change happen through your work," team member Maurielle Cook said. "We were lucky enough to witness that firsthand as we focused on loving EveryLibrary, and we’re so grateful for the experience. It was both inspiring and incredibly motivating.”
The BYU True Blue Team was selected as one of top three finalists among 45 submissions from universities across the country. The team was invited to New York City where they presented at PRSA’s national headquarters on Wall Street. There, they delivered a 25-minute presentation about their campaign, “For the Love of EveryLibrary,” followed by a 20-minute Q&A session with a panel of industry judges. The team’s thoughtful strategy, creative execution and professional delivery earned them the national title, distinguishing them as leaders in public relations.
BYU True Blue Team member and recent public relations graduate Alexis Larsen said, “It was a really great opportunity to get hands-on experience in the PR world. It helped me understand how to build a campaign, build connections with your audience, network with professionals and build my resume. My participation in the Bateman Case Study Competition opened a lot of doors for me.”
“For the Love of EveryLibrary” not only helped BYU students experience real PR client work, but it also brought historic recognition to BYU’s PR program on a national stage.