College of Communication and Information doctoral student Carla White received the 2025 Betsy Ann Plank Award for the Top Graduate Student Paper from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) at the ICON 2025 conference in October.
The Betsy Ann Plank awards recognize educators, public relations graduate students, and professionals for work that expands upon public relations practice, research, or theory. Public relations professionals and students from around the world gather at ICON annually for professional development and networking opportunities to enhance their practical and tactical skills in the industry.
“This was a huge honor as it was my first year being involved with PRSA and the Educators Academy,” White said. “This membership has provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with other scholars, teachers, and industry professionals to ensure we are doing the best we can to prepare students for their future careers.”
White presented her award-winning research paper—Breaking Up with Spring Break: Examining External Responses to Municipal Public Relations on Social Media— at the conference.
White said she wanted to do this research paper since learning about Miami Beach’s viral 2024 campaign announcing they are “breaking up with Spring Break.” Miami Beach City officials launched the campaign to deter unruly crowds from gathering in the city and to announce changes to enforcement procedures, such as curfews and DUI checkpoints.
“It was an interesting strategy that essentially promoted anti-tourism (keeping students out of Miami Beach for spring break),” White said. “This research is a good reminder for strategists that the shock factor which often pushes virality on social media doesn’t always equate to success in terms of public sentiment towards strategic campaigns and instead may have negative implications for issues of brand reputation and credibility.”
White said an apparent lack of engagement and evaluation by organizations that constantly disseminate strategic messages online inspires her social media research. She added a lot of work goes into campaign strategy and development but engaging with consumers and the public in meaningful ways on social media is often underutilized.
“I hope that my research will continue to push an informed agenda for industry professionals to maintain a strong commitment to evaluation on social media posts to best serve the communities they are targeting,” White said. “What makes the research process so rewarding for me personally is the hope of improving practice or providing publics with the knowledge to critically consume strategic messages and make empowered, informed decisions.”