Special Constituency Magazines

2010 Circle of Excellence Awards Program
Judges Report

Research Magazines

Gold Award: Ohio University - Perspectives
There were a small number of entries in the Research category this year, but several offered a good mix of editorial and design working in tandem. The judges felt Perspectives had the perfect blend: interesting stories with a strong editorial presence and personality, and a design that offset the editorial content without overpowering it.

Overpowering design was the greatest weakness the judges saw among the research magazines. Big, splashy graphics work with big, splashy stories, but too often judges felt the stories were simply drowned by the busy design.

Special Interest Magazines

Gold Award:
Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin

Silver Awards:
University of Michigan School of Public Health, Findings
Stanford Law School, Stanford Lawyer

Bronze Award:
Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Medicine

Overall, the judges found the majority of entrants in this category well-done. The quality of writing and design seemed to fit the needs of the magazines' primarily professional-school alumni audiences, and most were making good use of their budgets.

On the downside, distressingly few entries had any type of measurable metrics by which to judge their effectiveness with their audiences. In the day of free or almost-free online surveys and e-mail blasts, magazines really have no reason not to get more reader feedback than the approval of the dean or a phone call from one or two readers.

During the judging process, the magazines judges that fought over were the ones invariably selected as winners-we wanted to take them home and read them for pleasure. They were topical, intelligent, well-designed, and took their subjects seriously without taking themselves too seriously. They didn't come across as being too invested in pleasing the "audience of one" (dean, VP, president), which so many college and school magazines are often forced to do.

Harvard Medical Alumni Bulletin, our Gold winner, is a prime example. The covers were enticing, with good use of graphics and sell lines, and the writing was both thoughtful and, at times, playful. Story subject was excellent and showed a lot of imagination on the editorial staff's part to proactively come up with story ideas rather than waiting for the stories to come to them. The magazine's design more than compensates for not having a four-color budget, with clever use of spot color and screens. It is simply a great magazine that we all wanted to take home and read.

Our silver winners were radically different in flavor and look-appropriate, considering the difference in their audiences. Findings, from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, used lively-sometimes almost too lively-design and splashes of color to support great, in-your-face stories on issues of public health. Stanford Lawyer took a more sedate approach, befitting its audience, but blended topical, well-written stories, with clean, consistent design and graphic treatments.

Finally, our bronze winner, Stanford Medicine, likewise offered a good blend of interesting, well-written editorial material with a design the judges liked but felt bordered on being too understated at times.