Sallie Mae Wins 2016 PR News Social Media Award

NEWARK, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Sallie Mae, the nation's saving, planning, and paying for college company, today announced its social media campaign, "Good Things Come to Those Who Plan," won the 2016 PR News Social Media Award for best Facebook contest. PR News recognized Sallie Mae for its creative, resourceful, and shareable social media campaign and for making significant strides in the rapidly evolving social media space to help consumers.

"It's a great challenge to prove that communications efforts on social media results in actions that drive donations, membership, community action, yet we all know that social media is where people live," said Steve Goldstein, editorial director, PR News. "Our 2016 Social Media Awards recognize those communications teams that took and won the gamble on social media for their own clients and organizations, across a still-humbling array of platforms and apps."

Sallie Mae's "Good Things Come to Those Who Plan" contest encouraged families to create a plan to pay for college. Families entered the contest by completing a short essay on how they were planning for college and by registering for any of Sallie Mae's free plan-for-college tools, including the College Planning Calculator and the Scholarship Search by Sallie Mae. A judging panel made up of Sallie Mae employees selected three winners from more than 15,000 entries.

Representatives from Sallie Mae then traveled across the country—video crew in tow— to surprise winners at their homes in Baltimore, Md.; Jupiter, Fla.; and Lake Stevens, Wash. The grand prize recipient, Angela Moore received $10,000 on behalf of her daughter, Kyla Ruse, and the two runner-ups were each awarded $5,000.

"Surprising these families and rewarding them for taking those important first steps to prepare for college was a reminder of our purpose here at Sallie Mae," said Temeka Easter, senior director of social media, Sallie Mae. "To be recognized for our campaign is icing on the cake, but what was most gratifying was seeing the joy on our winners' faces."

To learn more about Sallie Mae's free planning for college tools and resources, visit SallieMae.com/PlanforCollege.

Join the planning for college conversation at Facebook.com/SallieMae or #LetsMakeCollegeHappen.

Sallie Mae SLM is the nation's saving, planning, and paying for college company. Whether college is a long way off or just around the corner, Sallie Mae offers products that promote responsible personal finance, including private education loans, Upromise rewards, scholarship search, college financial planning tools, and online retail banking. Learn more at SallieMae.com. Commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.

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