Events celebrating and facilitating the opening of the new on-campus stadium have garnered Colorado State University high honors from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
CSU collected a total of nine CASE Division VI institutional awards in the organization’s annual contest, including Gold in two different special event categories for the Division of External Relations’ efforts to celebrate the stadium opening.
“The opening of the on-campus stadium was much more than a one-day event, and it was much more than just a home game for the Ram football team,” said Tom Milligan, vice president for external relations. “It was historic, in every sense. I am proud of our communications team here in the division and our partners all around campus for coming together, and having both the vision to make something big happen and the attention to detail to make it all come off just right.”
Array of efforts
The activities that christened the stadium went well beyond the first home game victory against Oregon State on Aug. 26. In addition to producing striking artwork in and around the stadium, the Division of External Relations played a key role in an Aug. 5 community open house, an Aug. 24 employee appreciation event, the Aug. 25 chalk festival in Old Town, the Ram Walk that brings the team and fans into the stadium, the Stadium Sessions series of live band performances on Game Day weekends, the Rambassadors program and the inaugural FORTitude 10K race.
The winning entries captured the comprehensive efforts of the division around those events, including social media, video, photography, writing, web development, design, branding, signage, promotion and messaging for parking, alternative transportation, safety and accessibility.
“Many, many people at the University and in the community worked hard for this opening, and the broad, thoughtful and excellent communications work we all did honored that,” Milligan said. “We, in return, are honored by the recognition for the parts we all played.”
Other awards
In addition to the stadium honors in the multi-day and year-long event categories, the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering naming celebration took Grand Gold in CASE’s single-day event category. It was held April 19 to mark the largest gift in University history, $53.3 million from Walter Scott, Jr.
CSU also won Gold in that category for “Take Flight … Tonight,” a June 9 fundraising event for the Temple Grandin Equine Center held in Denver.
Those two entries were submitted by CSU Events in partnership with the engineering college and the College of Agricultural Sciences, respectively.
The Division of External Relations won a third Gold for “Forge the Path,” a fundraising video produced by CSU videographers Ron Bend and Brian Buss with University Advancement Communications and CSU Events. Also winning Gold was “No longer lost in translation,” a short video created by Anne Manning of the PR team and Jen Smith of Team Social.
Silver and Bronze
Manning and fellow science writer Mary Guiden won Silver in the category “Excellence in News Writing: Research, Medicine and Science.” The stories in the entry were:
- New test differentiates between Lyme disease, similar illness
- Research team advances low-cost, low-tech Zika virus surveillance tool
- Blood-repellant materials: A new approach to medical implants
- Bacterial biofilms, begone
- ‘Spectacular-looking’ endangered frog species discovered in Ecuador’s cloud forests
A Silver for “Periodical Staff Writing” went to the authors from the PR team who penned stories for “Student Success: Reaching New Heights,” the spring 2017 issue of Colorado State: The Magazine for Alumni and Friends: Jeff Dodge, Kate Jeracki, Manning and Tony Phifer.
The Warner College of Natural Resources won a Bronze from CASE for its home page redesign, an overhaul that included a new content management system as well as new navigation and menu systems.
All of the CASE awards will be presented at the council’s annual conference on Jan. 29 in St. Louis. CASE District VI includes Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. For more information, visit www.casevi.org.
