Illinois State University Marketing and Communications (UMC) captured three awards, including a gold, in CASE’s 2024 Circle of Excellence competition for creative work produced for university clients and flagship communication channels.
UMC writer John Twork and several colleagues earned a gold award for storytelling for the State magazine story about concerts on campus written to celebrate Braden Auditorium’s 50th anniversary. UMC Executive Director Brian Beam led a group that won a bronze for creating a micro-website hosting University Advancement’s fiscal 2023 data report, and UMC’s social media team received a bronze for an Instagram Reel highlighting students’ favorite food on campus.
CASE’s Circle of Excellence Awards are the premier recognition program for educational advancement. These peer-selected and adjudicated awards celebrate colleges, universities, and schools worldwide whose talented staff have advanced their institutions with resourcefulness and ingenuity.
“Earning three CASE awards is a tremendous honor and achievement, highlighting the dedication, excellence, and innovation of our team,” said Pat Vickerman, vice president for University Advancement. “From a magazine feature on campus concerts over the decades, to social media videos of students’ favorite campus food, and our advancement dashboard report, the Illinois State story and brand are stronger than ever.”
Illinois State University is a member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), which is the global nonprofit organization dedicated to educational advancement—alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and advancement services—and championing education to transform lives and society. In 2024, CASE received 4,223 entries from more than 600 institutions in 28 countries for its Circle of Excellence competition. Of those, volunteer judges selected 486 exemplary entries for bronze, silver, gold, and Grand Gold recognition.
Following is the list of CASE award-winning entries by UMC:
Gold
Communications, Storytelling: The Music Never Stopped
Writer: John Twork, M.S. ’12
Graphic design: Mike Mahle
Cover design: Half Hazard Press
Web design: Ella Jahraus ’20, M.S. ’22
From the judges: “What a great story to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a landmark auditorium. We agreed that the story was well researched and put together, with great use of historic photos and other detailed visuals.”
Bronze
Video, Videos on a Shoestring (Student Audience): Favorite Food on Campus
Videographer: Ethan Brakke
Director/Editor/Interviewer: Dani Hartmann ’24
Producers: Julie Mana-ay Perez and Elena Roth ’18, M.S. ’20
From the judges: “This video project was a joy to watch! It was interesting and lively, with a fun and quirky style that kept us engaged from start to finish. The choice of food as the main topic was brilliant, sparking great conversations in the comments. The variety included in the on-the-street interviews was impressive, and made excellent use of time and budget.”
Marketing, Micro-sites (Fundraising): Illinois State University Microsite
Concept and project manager: Brian Beam, M.S. ’94, MBA ’10
Data analytics: Brad Boesdorfer
Photography: Shea Grehan ’20
Production and Programming: Surface 51
From the judges: “This is a very unique and innovative way of presenting the impact of the advancement department to an internal audience. It does a great job of conveying the full work of advancement (including operations and marketing). We felt there’s an opportunity to take this page further, providing more context and year-on-year comparisons, as well as highlighting the faces behind the numbers. We also would have liked the entry submission to include more information on return on investment.”
In addition to the CASE awards, CUPRAP (A Professional Community Committed to Advancing Higher Education Marketing and Communications) recently awarded John Twork, UMC coordinator for online and print communications, with a 2024 Cuppie (bronze) in the digital media-web feature category for the online version of his alumni magazine story “The music never stopped: 50-plus years of campus concerts.”
UMC serves as an in-house creative agency focused on Illinois State’s communications to external audiences through marketing and communications planning, online and print publications, social media, photography, videography, and environmental branding.
