News Release Distributed 06/23/10

Fourteen members of the LSU AgCenter’s Communications and Information Technology units were recipients of national awards at the 2010 Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences conference in St Louis, Mo., on July 15-17.

Linda Benedict, associate director for Communications received the Award of Excellence in media relations. This award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated national leadership in their field as well as leadership in the ACE organization.

Gold awards went to 12 people. In the interactive multimedia and Web graphic category, Sandy Fiser, IT manager, and Megan Smith, IT analyst, received a gold award for the LSU AgCenter website.

Benedict and Rick Bogren, writer and editor, received a gold award for their editing of Louisiana Agriculture, a quarterly magazine published by the LSU AgCenter.

Communication specialists Betsy Neely, Craig Gautreaux, Randy LaBauve, Mark Claesgens and Bogren received a gold award in educational packaging. The award recognized their work on a youth wetlands curriculum for students in the fourth-12th grades.

LaBauve and Gautreaux also received a gold award in the noncredit educational video production category for their work on “Wet Work,” a video series highlighting careers in wetland ecology.

Katina Hester, IT coordinator, Rose Ann St. Romain, 4-H museum coordinator, and Smith received a gold award in interactive media programming for their work on the Louisiana 4-H Museum Hall of Fame kiosk.

Fred Piazza, chief information office, Lisa West, IT coordinator, Smith, Hester and Fiser received a gold award for their work on redesigning the LSU AgCenter website.

John Wozniak, assistant director in Communications, received a silver award in the photo illustration category for the cover of the Louisiana Agriculture magazine biofuels issue.

Frankie Gould, Communications director, was recognized for 25 years of service in ACE and her role as the organization’s past president in 2009-2010.

ACE is an international organization of communication professionals who serve in governmental and educational agencies and institutions.