The University of Kansas

Communicators win national awards

A KU science writer and the managing editor of Kansas Alumni magazine each have won medals from the international Circle of Excellence Awards Program, sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
The KU Alumni Association won a grand gold award in the Best Article of the Year category for a story in Kansas Alumni magazine entitled “Hail Fellow.”
Written by Chris Lazzarino, the story profiled a recent KU graduate who made history by winning three prestigious graduate prizes. The story appeared in the fourth issue of last year’s publications.
Jennifer Sanner, editor of the magazine, said the staff was thrilled by the news because they had been competing with about 450 other entries.
“The competition is always very difficult,” Sanner said. “This is the best news we could hear about our work.”
Johns Hopkins University, Middlebury College and Stanford University also won grand golds in the best article competition, while the Penn State Alumni Association and University of Pennsylvania both won gold awards. Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania won silver awards, and Dartmouth College received a bronze.
Roger Martin, columnist and writer at the KU Center for Research, won a silver CASE award in the Specific Media Relations Program competition.
Martin’s columns appear in newspapers throughout Kansas and may be heard on Kansas Public Radio.
Vern Lamplot, one of the judges who selected the columns, praised Martin’s work and said there were “solid ideas” and “documentation” to support how and why Martin does what he does.
“The lesson for administrators may be in the wisdom of allowing talented people the freedom to do what they do,” Lamplot said.
This year’s gold award in the Specific Media category went to the California Institute of Technology. The bronze went to Northern Michigan University.
This year’s competition included more than 3,700 entries that were judged in 43 categories. For more information, visit www.case.org.