From the Nominator

"In these issues, our team achieved our mission of educating, engaging, and delighting readers through compelling stories and images about Lethbridge College people, places, and experiences. This work is made more impressive given the challenges posed by the pandemic. However, those challenges, including difficulty arranging photography on a restricted campus or in workplaces, led us to take risks and embrace new ways of telling stories, which ultimately led to more memorable magazines. These innovations are found in both cover stories--one featuring the work of a talented young illustrator and the other showcasing a creative collaboration to go behind the scenes in the local ICU--and in smaller examples throughout both issues.   

These issues also stand out because we accomplished this excellent storytelling, compelling photography, and innovative illustration with a small staff and small budget. And readers appreciated our efforts. We survey alumni annually and after the Winter 2021 issue, we received some of our best results yet: 93% rated the magazine as excellent, very good, or good; 85% said they read or skimmed the cover story; 74% said they agreed or strongly agreed that the magazine strengthens their personal connection to the college; 44% said they recommended the college to potential student because of the magazine; 30% discussed or forwarded an article to a friend; and nearly 5% made a donation. 

We are in the midst of our Winter 2022 survey and look forward to similar results."

From the Judges

Wider Horizons was a quick consensus pick for gold when the judging panel met. The story ideas and approaches are consistently fresh, and the writing, design, and photography are compelling. The publication’s small staff accomplishes a lot on a small freelance budget, which it devotes primarily to photography. Regular surveying indicates that the team produces a publication that succeeds with its audiences at the college and in the broader community for a very modest per-piece cost. Any institution would be proud to be represented by a publication of this quality.