NonProfit PR Awards: Blog

Campaign: Small Things Considered

Winner: American Society for Microbiology

They say big things come in small packages—an adage known all too well by Moselio Schaechter, former president of the American Society for Microbiology. Elio, as Schaechter is known to his fans, created the Small Things Considered blog when he entered into “active retirement” to share his fascination with the breadth and depth of microbial activities on our planet.

To increase the number of people reached by the blog, and to become as useful a resource as possible in the microbiology field, Elio—with the support of the American Society for Microbiology—outlined plan to bring big buzz to the planet’s smallest inhabitants.

To meet the objectives, Elio began publishing guest posts by graduate students and noted microbiologists. The blog was also expanded to include a new section: Teachers’ Corner, which reorganizes content into a structure that is suitable for inclusion in college-level microbiology courses. Plus, Elio partnered with the American Society for Microbiology to include regular features from the blog in the society’s publication, Microbe magazine.

Thanks to these efforts, the blog’s visibility has increased dramatically since its March 2007 launch. With more than 700 subscribers, many of whom are active commentators on Elio’s posts, Small Things Considered has become a hub for microbiology enthusiasts, as well as current and potential American Society for Microbiology members.

Honorable Mentions:

Defense Media Activity: DodLive.mil—To enable DMA’s Emerging Media Directorate to communicate with stakeholders on a more personal level, the team launched the DoDLive blog, which features military-related topics that run the gamut from deployments and suicide prevention. Since its May 2009 launch, the blog has received 30,000+ unique visitors.

Seattle Pacific University: Saturday Morning From My Study—Seattle Pacific’s communications staff designed the blog from the university’s president, Philip W. Eaton, to explore ideas relating to SPU’s vision. In its first 60 days, the blog was visited by more than 7,100 individuals.