This is a sponsored post for the Washington Media Scholars Program.
You’re trying to build your resume for when you graduate–that’s why you’re looking for an internship. But that’s not the only way to gain experience that will be applicable to an entry level career. You could start a side-project, volunteer, or enter a case competition. The folks at the Washington Media Scholars Foundation want you to do the latter. They’re the non-profit organization behind the Washington Media Scholars Case Competition, which “challenges college undergraduates to create the best strategic media plan for a hypothetical public policy campaign.” It’s an amazing opportunity to show off your smarts and skills to “leading Washington area media organizations, advertising agencies and media buying companies.” Which is exactly what you want to do if you’re interested in a career in Strategic Media Research, Planning and Management.
Make Your Case
Imagine that you and a friend are a Campaign Manager and Media Buying Strategist. There’s an upcoming referendum, and you want to make sure that the group that you represent ends up on the winning side. You’re given a fixed budget, poll numbers, media costs, and a target audience. You need to find a way to do the most with what you have.
This is the setup for the Washington Media Scholars Media Plan Case Competition. It begins March 1st, and you’ll have until April 18th to submit your cases. Six teams of two students will be selected as finalists and will be flown to Washington for Media Scholars Week to participate in educational and networking events. This will happen June 5-10, 2011, but don’t worry if you have an internship already lined up. Past participants have had no problem getting their employer to allow them to attend Media Scholars Week. At the end of the week there will be a Networking Reception “where over 250 industry executives from across the country witness the announcement of the Media Scholars Case Competition winners.” That should help your employability!
The winners will each get $3,000 in scholarships, while the second place team will get $2,000 in scholarships. You have until April 18th to submit your case, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t start working on it when they release the Case Materials on March 1st.
Go to MediaScholars.org to learn more about the Case Competition as well as their Mentorship Programs and other Scholarship Initiatives.
