The Pitch Program

Network, Build Your Portfolio, Get Real-World Experience

The Pitch program is a one-day brainstorming and networking case competition that challenges teams of undergraduate students to create a public relations plan/campaign for a local not-for-profit organization (client) in the Greater Rochester community. Students will work in small groups (PR agencies) and meet local business and communications professionals who will serves as coaches and mentors to the teams throughout the day. Several industry leaders and influencers will participate on the judging panel to select a winning team. The client will then implement the communications strategies and tactics developed by the winning team. All participants will come away with real-world hands-on experience and a professional portfolio sample.

The Pitch program is organized by members of the Public Relations Society of America Rochester Chapter's Diversity and Young Professionals committees.

November 2024 Program Recap

Congratulations to students from Rochester Institute of Technology, St. John Fisher University and the University of Rochester for successfully completing PRSA Rochester's The Pitch program on November 10, 2024. 

Participating undergraduate students collaborated in small teams to create elements of a PR campaign for Our Local History, a local nonprofit program of Coordinated Care Services Inc., that supports and empowers students, teachers, and communities with the tools to engage with and own their local history of civil rights through inquiry, equity, and civic action. The PR campaigns aimed to increase awareness and attendance for Our Local History’s Greater Rochester Antiracist Education Virtual Conference in March 2025. Teams then "pitched" their best ideas to a panel of judges, who scored the campaigns based on specific criteria to determine the winning team. 

All participants walked away with real-world hands-on experience and a professional portfolio sample. Special thanks to the volunteer coaches and panel of industry judges for supporting the students!

The Pitch will return

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