2009-2010

News Release

REF NO.: 256

SUBJECT: Memorial singled out as best in the world in communications and marketing

DATE: July 20, 2010

Memorial University’s annual president’s report has been recognized as the best in the world by an international association of universities.
The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recently awarded Memorial’s report two grand gold medals in its international Circle of Excellence Awards program. CASE is the Washington, D.C.-based organization that represents the communications, alumni and marketing arms of universities globally, including the top universities in the world such as Harvard, Oxford and all Canadian universities, among thousands of others.
This marks the second year in a row that Memorial was recognized for international excellence in its marketing and communications programs. Last year, the university won a CASE grand gold medal in the Best Individual Institutional Relations Publication category for its annual report Novel Ideas: President’s Report 2008.
This year, a CASE grand gold medal has been again awarded to Memorial for Memorial University Z to A: President’s Report 2009 in the same category.
As well, Z to A has been awarded a second grand gold award for excellence in design in the Best Multi-Page Publications and Folders category.  
The 88-page pocket-sized booklet is a lexicon based on the theme that the university is comprised of individuals who are following an audacious path in life [“zaggers”] or who are “intellectual adventurers.” The 26 stories in the report are based on words that capture the Memorial experience, each beginning with a subsequent letter of the alphabet as it runs in reverse order. This sequence literally articulates Memorial University’s 2008-09 year using a lexicon inspired by the events and accomplishments of Memorial’s faculty, staff and students.
The 2009 report is also a comprehensive website. It can be found at www.mun.ca/2009report. Both the website and the highlights booklet contain the university’s financial statements and an array of statistical information on the province’s only university, the largest post-secondary institution in Atlantic Canada.
All of the award winning marketing and communications materials were produced in house.
“Winning such outstanding, international honours highlights the global impact of our marketing and communications efforts,” said Dr. Gary Kachanoski, president and vice-chancellor. “For the second year running, Memorial has been internationally recognized for creative excellence, which reinforces Memorial’s standing as a remarkable place to study and work. The CASE awards, and the other awards we have received recently, demonstrate that we are a Canadian university on the rise and truly a place where people and ideas become.”
In addition to winning the grand gold medals, Memorial has been honoured with three gold medals for Research Report 2009: This is the start of something BIG. The “big” website can be found at www.mun.ca/big.
 The annual report was awarded gold in the categories Best Individual Institutional Relations Publications: Research Publications; Excellence in Design: Multi-Page Publications and Folders; and Best Advertising Campaigns for the report and its accompanying print, night-time projection and online banner advertisements, as well as a website.  
The report highlights some of the significant activity undertaken by researchers at Memorial. The “big” theme is drawn from Memorial being named No. 1 in research income growth over 2002-07 among Canadian medical/doctoral universities. Memorial’s growth was more than double that of comparative universities.
CASE is an international membership association that advances and supports educational institutions by providing knowledge, standards, advocacy and training designed to strengthen the combined efforts of alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing and allied professionals. For more information, please visit www.case.org/

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