SJC Wins Folio Award for Best First Time Use of Social Media

May 17, 2010

PATCHOGUE, NY May 18, 2010 The Fair Media Council, an organization that recognizes and monitors the quality of local news media, has honored St. Josephs College with a Folio Award for New Media Innovator: Best First Time Use of Social Media at its awards luncheon on Friday, April 30 at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY. With more than 500 guests in attendance, a total of 39 awards were presented.

The 2010 Folio Awards were hosted by WCBS anchors Chris Wragge and Kristine Johnson and keynoted by Chris Hansen, Dateline NBC correspondent and author of To Catch a Predator: Protecting Your Kids from Online Enemies Already in Your Home. The awards were presented to winners by a variety of regional television, radio, business and government personalities.

"The Folio Awards signify the highest of honors in news and social media, because it is the public who judges the work for relevance to the community, said Jaci Clement, executive director of the Fair Media Council. "It's exciting to see local organizations embracing social media to further their missions.

Honoring excellence in local news coverage, the award-winning submissions for the Folio Awards are judged by community leaders who live and work in the metropolitan area. New for 2010, the award categories were expanded to incorporate the importance of social media as a tool for communicating news and information to the public. For the first time in 30 years, the judges accepted entries from New York businesses and not-for-profit organizations.

"To be recognized by our peers among so many talented news and business professionals at this years Folio Awards is truly an honor, said Jessica McAleer Decatur, director of public relations at St. Josephs College. "We were thrilled when we learned the Fair Media Council was including social media categories for the first time and could participate.

St. Josephs College won the New Media Innovator Award for its submission: The SJCNY Approach to Social Media, a social networking campaign that was introduced in July 2009 with the creation of accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.