The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recognized several of Stanford’s publications, articles and videos with awards from its 2016 Circle of Excellence Competition. Much of Stanford’s media were recognized with Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards this year. With eight awards won, Stanford tied for the most Circle of Excellence awards of any university in 2016.

The awards acknowledge superior accomplishments that have lasting impact, demonstrate the highest level of professionalism and deliver exceptional results,” according to the CASE website.

Stanford’s official alumni magazine, Stanford Magazine, won a Gold Award for Periodical Staff Writing, a Silver Award for Feature Writing and a Silver Award for Special Issue. The Periodical Staff Writing award recognized a series of five articles written by three writers. The articles were “The Big Game Disaster of 1900” and “A Hard Look At How We See Race,” which won the Silver Award for Feature Writing, by Sam Scott; “Something is Stirring” by magazine editor Kevin Cool; and “Danger Ahead” and “Our Favorite Mobile Device” by Michael Antonucci.

Stanford Business Magazine won a Bronze Award in the General Interest Magazine category.

“The Big Game Disaster of 1900” discussed the forgotten accident that occurred during a football game at Stanford and killed several individuals, while “A Hard Look At How We See Race” highlights the research of Jennifer Eberhardt, associate professor of psychology, on racial bias in the status quo. “Something is Stirring” explores the student activism that occurred at Stanford over the past few years and the new movements that have emerged. “Danger Ahead” discusses the morality of genetic engineering, and “Our Favorite Mobile Device” highlights the creation of an Airstream trailer by a Stanford alum.

I think what’s gratifying about the award in this year in particular is the extent to which they reflected the team effort that went into so many of these,” Cool said. “ I would single out…the award we got in the Special Issue Category for Theme Issue that we did last summer around the theme of ‘Home.’ I think that we all felt that that issue exemplified what we take great pride in, which is the strength of our team and the collective effort and collaboration, which we so prize here.”
Cool also discussed the inspiration behind his story of student activism.

“The one that I wrote was a cover story that was in the midst of a lot of activism in the spring of 2015. Black Lives Matter activism, Fossil Free Stanford, there was a lot going on,” he said. “And our story sort of tried to frame the debates going on at the time and also to give it some historic context based on what had happened in regards to student activism at Stanford in the past.”

“This is probably the most pronounced and, I would say, durable student activism that I have seen in 17 years at Stanford. So it felt like an opportunity to share with alumni that this had a different tone, and a different task, and a different intensity than some more recent advocacy efforts,” he added.

Videos that received recognition from CASE included “A Strange Reality” by the Stanford School of Medicine, about a Stanford neurosurgeon with lung cancer; “Stanford Researchers Solve the Mystery of Dancing Droplets” by Kurt Hickman, about the molecular physics of fluid droplets, which a Silver Award for News and Research; “Stanford 125” by Aaron Kehoe, regarding Stanford’s 125th anniversary and “Discover Stanford,” a recruitment video by Stanford Undergraduate Admissions.

Hickman reflected on the process of making his short research video.

“The one thing that I think made the video kind of work was the researcher’s involvement,” Hickman said. “He kind of understood that it was something cool, and we were able to collaborate on the vision of the video, and I think his enthusiasm really helped push the video to the edge.”

CASE uses the Circle of Excellence Awards to highlight collegiate programs that demonstrate the best practices of the profession. Award-winning programs such as Stanford’s “help nurture [the] profession’s deeply rooted culture of sharing, collegiality and cooperation,” according to CASE’s website. The recognition for these Stanford publications draws attention to the importance of University communications in terms of highlighting research, alumni and other aspects of the University that may not have received the same level of acknowledgement otherwise.
 

Contact Ishika Chawla at ishikachawla ‘at’ gmail.com.