The University of Alberta’s daily brand journalism publication, folio.ca, has transformed how the university tells its story. With a reader-centric philosophy, a clear editorial mandate, a journalistic approach, and focused content, Folio tells stories that are more interesting, informative, relevant, and useful to a broader audience than ever before. In 2019, just the third year of its existence, Folio reached a milestone of two million pageviews in the calendar year—quadrupling the traffic to the U of A’s previous online news vehicle, which had been part of the institutional website. This and other key performance indicators show that using traditional techniques of journalism to tell stories that draw on the expertise of the institution and carefully target external audiences is an effective way for universities to broaden their ability to tell their stories to the public, and to increase pickup of those stories by external media.
From the Judges
Clear focus, simple objectives. Good promo strategy. Good analysis of metrics. A great layout, including engaging photos and snappy titles.
