Campbell Magazine received the highest honor in two categories in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s (CASE) annual Circle of Excellence awards, announced Wednesday.
The magazine’s fall 2019 edition, The Women of Campbell, won a Grand Gold award in a new category, “Magazines on a Shoestring,” which recognizes smaller-staff publications with limited resources. The same edition’s artwork by Fuquay-Varina artist Amanda Dockery also received a Gold award in the Illustrations category.
The two awards mark Campbell University’s first Gold and Grand Gold awards in the CASE Circle of Excellence competition, which acknowledges superior accomplishments in the fields of advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing at colleges, universities, independent schools and affiliated nonprofits around the world. This year, CASE received 2,752 entries in 100 categories from 587 institutions representing 28 countries. According to CASE, 400 entries received recognition, and only 26 entries received the Grand Gold distinction, which judges view as “extremely exceptional or game-changing.”
“The Campbell Communications and Marketing team has received significant recognition in recent years through CASE District III for outstanding design and writing in Campbell Magazine, the University website and special promotional events and fundraising campaigns,” said Britt Davis, vice president for advancement. “However, receiving a CASE Gold Grand award among colleges and universities from around the world is truly exceptional, perhaps even beyond what I ever thought our publications team would ever achieve. Campbell Magazine is truly ‘world class,’ and we have the peer recognition to prove it.”
The fall 2019 edition — titled 14 Decades of Amazing, Trailblazing Women Who Shaped Campbell University — honored a woman from each decade of the University’s history who made a significant impact on Campbell’s growth and reputation. The magazine featured short stories on all 14 women, written by editor Billy Liggett and writer Kate Stoneburner, plus 14 full-page illustrations of each woman by Dockery. The magazine also featured a feature story and photography by Stoneburner on Spiritual Life’s mission trip to South Africa in 2019 and a story on Cy Young Award-winning brothers Jim and Gaylord Perry and their connection with the moon landing in 1969.
CASE judges wrote, “[We] were drawn in to the magazine, and, after reading it, felt connected to Campbell despite having had no engagement with the University in the past. The illustrations … stood out from the art and design in most other submissions. It was clear the Campbell community was as wowed by the magazine design and content as we were.”
Campbell Magazine was one of three magazines in the competition to receive a Grand Gold distinction — the other two the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California-Berkeley. It’s one of 17 finalists for the 2020 Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year award, to be announced on June 24.
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In awarding Campbell Magazine a Gold award for Illustrations, the judges wrote, “Recognizing the remarkable contributions of the Women of Campbell over 133 years was especially challenging, given the lack of source imagery for many subjects. Using an illustrative approach is a brilliant way of overcoming and excelling beyond expectations. The technical ability, style, and consistency of artist Amanda Dockery’s work here is absolutely remarkable. The diversity in how these pieces were successfully applied, both in print and most especially online, raises this submission to a higher level.”
In addition to the work by Dockery, Liggett and Stoneburner, Adam Fish (’09), Rachel Davis (’19), Leah Tripp (’20) and Peter Donlon contributed as writers, and Bennett Scarborough, Jebb Graff and Bill Parish contributed as photographers.
“This edition of Campbell Magazine managed to creatively illustrate the foundations of our past and the innovative academic and social achievements of today,” said Haven Hottel, assistant vice president for marketing and communications. “I am so proud of Billy Liggett, Kate Stoneburner and our team of creative professionals as they use their talents to tell the Campbell story.”