Northwestern wins PR awards

Northwestern College’s public relations office has won three awards in the 2010 Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District Six awards competition.

Northwestern’s website, www.nwciowa.edu, won a silver award in the Excellence in Multimedia: Website category. The revised site was launched in July with a new look and content overhaul as the result of a yearlong process. Other institutions winning in the Web category were Missouri State University, gold; Iowa State University, silver; and Missouri University of Science and Technology, bronze.

An e-mail campaign designed to communicate with current students in a way that provides them with the information they need and lets them know the college cares about their success received a silver award in the Excellence in Institutional Relations: Best Solution to an Institutional Communications Challenge category. The “Mile Marker” e-mails, created by the Enrollment Management and Retention Team, address specific developmental concerns of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Other institutions winning in that category included University of Northern Colorado, gold, and University of Missouri, bronze.

An essay by 1985 Northwestern alumnus Todd Thompson of Lubbock, Texas, received a silver award in the Excellence in Writing: Opinion/Column/Editorial category. Thompson’s article, “Love That Lasts,” was published in the winter 2009–10 issue of Northwestern’s Classic magazine. The essay describes love stories Thompson and his 10-year-old twin daughters have witnessed during regular visits to the residents of a skilled-care center. Other winners in that category included St. Louis University, gold; Webster University, silver; and University of Denver, bronze.

The awards were presented at the CASE district’s conference in Kansas City on Jan. 10. District Six includes colleges, universities and independent schools in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Council for Advancement and Support of Education is an organization for professionals who work in alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing and allied areas.