Accolades from regional, national and international competitions have been rolling in for UC Davis’ communication and development efforts in recent months, recognizing a number of units, including:

• Office of Strategic Communications
• Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• Global Affairs
• Student Affairs Marketing and Communications
• School of Veterinary Medicine
• UC Davis Health Public Affairs and Marketing

Among the honors: two Northern California Area Emmys and three Tellys for video projects, and more than 30 awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE, for publications, advertising, social media, writing, video and more.

UC Davis also earned honors in the PR News Digital + Social Media Awards and the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts’ Communicator Awards. In addition, Dana Topousis, chief marketing and communications officer and head of the Office of Strategic Communications, was named a “Top Woman in PR” by the PR News Group industry association.

Strategic Communications is showcasing its awards on a redesigned website.

“I’m incredibly proud to lead a team of talented, thoughtful individuals who do so much to tell the story of UC Davis,” Topousis said. “We all play a role in showcasing the world-class work in Davis, Sacramento and beyond. On top of that, we’ve rededicated ourselves to being more effective in including and uplifting people, news and stories from all over the Aggie community.”

The department website was updated in June with a portfolio of recent and ongoing projects, profiles of each unit and staff member, and easy-to-navigate resources for communicators across campus. New to the website is a section on diversity, equity and inclusion, which includes an ally statement and a list of the department’s goals and plans to continue to learn, practice empathy, improve inclusivity and promote efforts around anti-racism.

“We appreciate that ideas can come from anyone and that diversity of perspective, background and experience is something we value and seek out,” the Strategic Communications ally statement says. “We strive to keep our work anchored in empathy while striving for excellence.”

The website redesign was led by Strategic Communications’ Web and Interactive Communications unit, with digital content strategist and user experience designer Max Boyd doing much of the heavy lifting. It puts the department’s mission, vision and values up front, and is full of vibrant photos and links to relevant work, like coverage of the pandemic’s impacts on the university.

Video awards

 

UC Davis Health Public Affairs and Marketing won a pair of Northern California Area Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences last month.

Pamela Wu, Christopher Nelson and Hal Sloane won an Emmy for their 16-minute video chronicling the surgery to separate conjoined twins Abigail and Micaela at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, in the health/medical long-form content category. Originally produced as a multipart series, the videos together have been viewed nearly 6.5 million times on YouTube.

The UC Davis Health team shared an Emmy with Sacramento PBS station KVIE for a ViewFinder episode titled “Life After Sight,” in the human interest long-form content category.

Spotlight on Cambodia, produced by John Mounier of Strategic Communications, Brenda Dawson of the Horticulture Innovation Lab and Max Fannin of Max Video Productions, an outside vendor, won three Telly Awards: a gold for nonbroadcast: videography / cinematography, and silver awards in both for nonbroadcast: educational institution and nonbroadcast: social impact.

CASE Awards

UC Davis took home more honors than any other UC campus — and more than all but two other universities overall — in CASE’s global Circle of Excellence awards, announced last month.

The Office of Development and Alumni Relations’ fundraising publication for the Coffee Center earned a grand gold — CASE says it reserves those for “extremely exceptional or ‘game-changing’” work — in the category of case statements and general cultivation publications.

“There is no question what this publication is about — from the cover to the direct ask,” the judges said. “Through each page, you see the focus: coffee. … It made us want a cup!”

Strategic Communications earned a gold award for ads at Sacramento International Airport promoting the unit’s Unfold podcast, Season 2.

“We were very impressed by the bold strategy of highlighting a podcast as the central element to their campaign, rather than broadly promoting university brand awareness,” the judges wrote. “We liked the creativity of the visuals, and saw that the ad placement was successful at driving traffic to their podcast.”

UC Davis won six silver awards and four bronze awards in the CASE’s global Circle of Excellence competition.

UC Davis won 21 Awards of Excellence in CASE District VII (Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, the Northern Mariana Islands and Utah), including eight golds for projects such as the UC Davis Life Newsletter (produced by Student Affairs Marketing and Communications) and the virtual groundbreaking for the Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute on the UC Davis Health campus in Sacramento..

Northern California Emmy Awards

• “Separating Conjoined Twins,” in the category health/medical long-form content, by UC Davis Health Public Affairs and Marketing
• ViewFinder episode “Life After Sight,” in the category human interest long-form content, by KVIE and UC Davis Health Public Affairs and Marketing

Telly Awards

• Spotlight on Cambodia, gold in the category nonbroadcast: videography / cinematography, silver in the category nonbroadcast: educational institution and silver in the category nonbroadcast: social impact, by the Office of Strategic Communications, the Horticulture Innovation Lab and Max Video Productions

CASE Circle of Excellence Awards

Grand Gold

• Coffee Center: Innovation United With Interdisciplinary Research, in the category publications (fundraising publications: case statements and general cultivation publications), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations

Gold

• Unfold Airport Ads, for Season 2 of the podcast, in the category marketing (advertising: outdoor), by the Office of Strategic Communications

Silver

• Animal Health Topics, in the category communications (communications improvement) by the School of Veterinary Medicine
• Humanizing Deportation, in the category video (news and research videos), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• “It Could Have Been Me: A Race Relations Role Model,” in the category writing (column or opinion piece), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• “Rethinking Wildfire: Cultural Burning and the Art of Not Fighting Fire,” in the category writing (feature), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Unfold Ads on air on Capital Public Radio and on the radio station’s website, in the category marketing (advertising: radio/audio), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Website Refresh: UC Davis Brand Communications Guide, in the category marketing (branding programs: institutional), by the Office of Strategic Communications

Bronze

• Campus Branding Illustrations, in the category design (illustrations), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Social Distancing With Gunrock Arcade Game, in the category digital communications (social media: public relations and marketing), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Spotify Playlists, in the category student advancement (student-led engagement initiatives), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Student Takeovers: Handing Over the Microphone, in the category digital communications (social media: student recruitment), by the Office of Strategic Communications

CASE District VII Awards of Excellence

Gold

• K-12 Alumni Parent Webinar, in the category alumni relations (targeted constituency engagement), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• UC Davis Life Newsletter, in the category communications (communications improvement), by Student Affairs Marketing and Communications, Division of Student Affairs
• UC Davis Animal Health Topics, in the category communications (communications improvement), by the School of Veterinary Medicine
• UC Davis Veterinary Medicine: Ask Me Anything, in the category communications (communications pivot), by the School of Veterinary Medicine
• FY20 Unit-Specific Direct Mail and Email Series, in the category fundraising (fundraising improvement), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• Defining the Cutting Edge of Contemporary: The Manetti Shrem Museum, in the category fundraising (targeted campaigns), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• Advancing Indoor Farming to Feed the World, in the category fundraising (targeted campaigns), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• Ernest E. Tschannen Eye Institute Building Virtual Groundbreaking, in the category special events (special event pivot), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, UC Davis Health Eye Center and Office of the Chancellor

Silver

• Scholarship Volunteer Reading Campaign and Virtual Training, in the category alumni relations (alumni relations improvement), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• UC Davis Portfolio Analysis: Streamlined, Transparent and Personalized, in the category advancement services (advancement services: improvement), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• Women Tech, in the category alumni relations (targeted constituency engagement), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• New Inspiration for the Veterinary Medical Center Campaign, in the category marketing (marketing improvement), by the School of Veterinary Medicine
• The Impact of Personalized Stewardship, in the category publications (fundraising: annual reports and fund reports), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• UC Davis Coffee Center: Innovation United With Interdisciplinary Research, in the category publications (fundraising: case statements / general cultivation publications), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• The UC Davis University Honors Program Case for Support, in the category publications (fundraising: case statements / general cultivation publications), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• Future of International Education: Leadership Perspectives From Around the World, in the category special events (events on a shoestring), by Global Affairs

Bronze

• FY20 UC Davis Annual and Special Gifts Program’s Stewardship Campaign, in the category advancement services (donor relations and stewardship), by the Annual and Special Gifts Program, Office of Development and Alumni Relations
• Why Is My Pet Acting Like This? (Synergy, spring 2020), in the category design (illustrations), by the School of Veterinary Medicine
• Center for Equine Health Horse Report, in the category magazines (targeted constituency magazines), by the Center for Equine Health, School of Veterinary Medicine
• Air Quality Impacts Early Brain Development, in the category writing (general news), by the School of Veterinary Medicine.
• Volunteer Leadership Conference, in the category special events (multiday), by the Office of Development and Alumni Relations

PR News Digital + Social Media Awards

Honorable Mention

• Connecting Leadership With the Community, in the category use of Instagram stories, by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Women in Medicine Month, in the category IGTV or Instagram Live, by UC Davis Health

Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts Communicator Awards

Awards of Distinction

• Unfold, Season 2, in the category science and medicine podcasts, by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Healing and Hope: Treating Fragile X in Serbia, in the individual online video (causes and awareness), by the Office of Strategic Communications
• Humanizing Deportation, in the category individual online video (causes and awareness), by the Office of Strategic Communications