UA university relations magazine honored The University of Arkansas Department of University Relations was among the honorees at a recent gala held at the governor's mansion in Little Rock to recognize winners of the IABC / Arkansas Bronze Quill Awards designed to honor creative excellence in business communications. Laura H. Jacobs, director of university relations, received a Bronze Quill Award of Excellence in the magazine category for her entr y titled "Arkansas--Magazine of the Arkansas Alumni Association"in the statewide recognition program presented annually by the Arkansas Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators.

Leading the winners this year was Arkansas Children's Hospital with a total of 30 awards. Other big winners this year included CARTI with a total of 18 awards, Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods with a total of 17 awards and the Communications Group with a total of 15 awards.

Professional communicators from across the state this year were honored with a record number of 53 Awards of Excellence trophies. An additional 59 Awards of Merit recipients were also recognized during the ceremony.

A new award established to honor lifetime achievement in Arkansas professional communications was unveiled and named in honor of John K. Woodruff, a longtime international association Arkansas member and advocate who died earlier this year from cancer. Woodruff was also named as the first recipient of the John K. Woodruff Award. Local businesses make ranking Two local glass businesses were named to the Annual Franchise 500 rankings issued by Entrepreneur Magazine. SuperGlass Windshield Repair, located in Tontitown, was ranked 299; Glass Doctor of Northwest Arkansas was ranked 318. "We are always excited and gratified to see our company recognized by a national publication," said Mike Rodabaugh, Super-Glass owner in Tontitown. "It is also a sign of customer recognition of windshield repair, which really makes me feel good about the work we have done in Tontitown to educate motorists about the savings and safety aspects of windshield repair over full replacement. " "It's a great honor for our franchise and for the entire Glass Doctor team to be in this elite group," local operator William Whipple said. "We work hard to deliver the highest quality service possible to our customers. It's rewarding that our efforts over the past year have been recognized by Entrepreneur magazine. "Metropolitan National Bank launches mobile banking service Metropolitan National Bank has launched its new mobile banking service and Web site. The name of the service is "MetbankMobile "and can be accessed online at www.metbankmobile.com. Metropolitan is one of the first banks to introduce this new technology to the market and will be offering the mobile banking service free of charge to its Internet banking customers. Metropolitan National Bank partnered with MShift Inc. of San Jose, Calif., in deploying the mobile banking service. MetbankMobile is supported on most Webenabled wireless devices, including PalmOS, Pocket PC, Blackberry / RIM, pagers, and SMS-based phones. MetbankMobile is also available on all major wireless carrier networks, including ALLTEL, Verizon, Cingular, AT & T, Sprint PCDS, T-Mobile and many others. The service also does not require the user to use a certain wireless carrier or require that any additional software be downloaded to the handset, which some other banks'services require. Architecture firm receives 2008 AIA Institute Honor Award Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects of Little Rock has achieved architecture's highest honor for its design of the Heifer International Headquarters in Little Rock. The National American Institute of Architects in Washington, D. C., hailed the firm's design worthy of a 2008 AIA Institute Honor Award. The firm will be honored in May at an awards ceremony at the AIA 2008 National Convention and Design Exposition in Boston.

Located in Little Rock and Fayetteville, Polk Stanley Rowland Curzon Porter Architects recently celebrated its 30 th year, continuing a quest for significant architecture that creates a sense of place, incorporates a timeless quality and utilizes natural light in thoughtful, sustainable solutions. The firm has received more than 40 state, regional and national awards in the past eight years.