UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State American Marketing Association (PSAMA) chapter brought home the International Chapter of the Year Award and numerous individual awards at this year’s 2026 AMA International Collegiate Conference (ICC).
Hosted by the American Marketing Association, 343 chapters and 1,900 students across the country competed at the conference, held in Chicago in mid-March.
The Penn State team chapter received one of the highest honors of the competition in the large school division.
Kylie Schulz, president of PSAMA, was in charge of putting together the necessary materials and preparing the team for the conference.
“When we were announced as the winners, I felt a mix of shock, excitement and validation,” Schulz said. “It was incredibly rewarding to see our hard work recognized on such a large scale, and it made me even more appreciative of the team and everything we achieved together.”
This achievement required a lot of hard work and dedication from PSAMA.
“The process is both rigorous and detail oriented, requiring a significant amount of time, effort, and collaboration from my entire team,” Schulz said.
The chapter submitted a chapter plan report and an annual report ahead of the conference, summarizing all the hard work that their executive team and members contributed all year. The reports, as per the American Marketing Association, detail the professional development, community, social impact, fundraising, communications, operations and membership of the chapter.
“We put in an incredible amount of effort, passion and collaboration throughout the process, and I knew our submission genuinely reflected that,” Schulz said.
Keisha Nichols, an associate clinical professor of marketing who has advised the chapter for the past three years, gave some insight into what distinguishes PSAMA.
“This year's team embodied that ‘big energy’ philosophy, approaching our key activities with intentionality, expanding awareness, challenging ourselves through competitions and projects and committing fully to the process for quality outcomes,” she said.
This is the third time PSAMA won the International Chapter of the Year award in the last five years.
“They work tirelessly and exemplify our university's core values,” Nichols said.
Along with International Chapter of the Year, Penn State won numerous individual awards.
The American Marketing competition offers nine individual and group competitions at the conference along with various other competitions throughout the year and in the fall.
The competitions that PSAMA won include:
- Matthew Basileo, Kylie Schulz, Scott Akumiah, Emily Holloran and Ava D'Alessandro won second place in the Digital Marketing Competition.
- Jordan Pierce and Nihaal Nayar received an honorable mention in the Sales Competition.
- Scott Akumiah received an honorable mention in the Perfect Pitch Competition.
PSAMA also received an outstanding mention in the Social Impact Video Competition and a commendable mention in the Case Competition.
“I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment in what we had done through the year,” Schulz said. “The success our members achieved is a direct reflection of both their hard work and the intentional preparation leading up to the conference.”