Washington, D.C.— The Northern Essex Community College’s biannual alumni magazine recently earned recognition from the National Council of Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR). The Spring ’25 edition of alumnecc, Finding the Helpers, was awarded a silver Pargaon in the magazine category. The Paragons are NCMPR’s highest honors, recognizing outstanding achievement in design and communication at community and technical colleges. It’s the only national competition that honors excellence exclusively among marketing and PR professionals at two-year colleges.

NCMPR received 2000 entries across 47 categories. Marketing and PR industry professionals judged entries and selected gold, silver, and bronze winners.

The awards were part of a three-day conference featuring workshops, breakout sessions, networking opportunities, and keynote addresses specifically geared toward marketing professionals at two-year institutions. Former NECC CMO Rob Taber, a past president of NCMPR, was also honored with the D. Richard Petrizzo Award for Career Achievement. The award recognizes a professional for career accomplishments in community college marketing and public relations.

Ron Taber, former NECC CMO

NECC Executive Director of Marketing and Public Relations Melissa Bouse was a featured presenter at the conference, delivering a session on finding “content champions” to help in storytelling efforts.

NCMPR celebrated its 51st anniversary at the recent conference in Washington, D.C. The organization will host smaller, regional conferences in the fall. NECC is part of District 1, along with colleges from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec, and the United Kingdom.