City of Dasmariñas, Cavite - A team of 4th year AB Communication students from De La Salle University-Dasmariñas (DLSU-D) won 2nd runner-up (third place) in the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) Hack Sprint competition held online from February 3 to 5, 2022. The students are Ms. Jessa Mae Abug, Ms Samanthxa Cedro and Ms. Jan Nicolei Marcelo.
Their public relations campaign pitch entitled; Tara LETS (Lift Employment for The Society) was prepared for the case study client JobStreet Philippines. It impressed the judges with its insights, ideas and a catchy jingle that the team composed. The DLSU-D team won ₱ 10,000, a trophy, certificates and gift packs.
According to Abug, "With the campaign, we just want to invite everyone, especially the younger people to join and say Tara! LETS! (Lift the Employment for The Society) with high hopes, because the future is for them—the future is for the YOUth."
Declared Grand Champion was a team from the University of the Philippines Manila. A team from the University of the Philippines Los Baños emerged 1st runner-up.
For Marcelo "It was a unique 3 days! Especially the first 24 hours. But overall, it was an amazing experience working with people who share the same goals and passion. We really just aimed to do our best, and we did. So, no regrets!"
For more than a decade, the PRSP has organized the annual Students' PR Congress and Grand Prix for students studying communication, public relations, advertising, marketing, production, and media. The Grand Prix was reformatted and became the 1st Hack Sprint Edition, another first in the industry where students developed their own PR and communications plan in a limited time to practice what they have learned in the classroom and during the PR Congress by putting their skills and teamwork to the test.
According to Cedro, "The competition was a great avenue for us to learn and adapt the industry's quality standard of public relations and communication practices. It honed us to work faster, and work smarter."
The DLSU-D team was coached by Communication and Journalism Department Associate Professor Mr. Marco M. Polo.