From the Nominator

At UCLA College, home of the liberal arts and sciences at UCLA, we strive to celebrate the stories and accomplishments of the extraordinary people who make up our institution. Yet while faculty regularly take center stage in our news coverage, we realized our graduate students—who represent the future of the university and their fields—weren’t getting the spotlight as often as they could. With this in mind, we set out to create a new video series to bring doctoral students front-and-center and to make their work more accessible to the general public. This effort to increase grad students' visibility was warmly welcomed by academic leadership. Meanwhile, our strategic communications colleagues seized the opportunity to amplify the lighthearted-yet-informative video content. Using a Q&A approach—"Silly Questions, Smart Bruins"—gave UCLA Ph.D. students a soapbox to discuss their research in an engaging way through the lens of pop culture, including movies, holidays, and other fun jumping-off points. We created this episode to go live the same day the "Barbie" movie premiered, offering an appealing new approach to a highly discussed cultural phenomenon. Due to limited resources, an editorial staff member (with help from one staff designer) created the video entirely in-house and developed and edited all of its components (with the exception of the background songs). The impact was rewarding both in terms of the feedback we received and the reach we achieved in promoting the final product.

From the Judges

This video's concept is very clever, capitalizing on the popularity of the "Barbie" movie to connect education to pop culture. It's inspiring to see a unique approach to content that can be replicated by others. Well produced and executed. This is a great way to tie academics to something timely and relevant, making it engaging and accessible to a wider audience.