From the Nominator

Launched July 1, 2025, Fresno State Today is a centralized micro-site designed to modernize Fresno State’s communications. The platform replaced a 26-year-old legacy news website and consolidated multiple fragmented channels—including Fresno State News, Magazine, Stories, and college-specific blogs—into a single hub at today.fresnostate.edu. The primary audiences include media, alumni, donors, and community members, as well as secondary audiences like faculty, staff, and students. The project aimed to strengthen institutional reputation by creating a consistent, visually compelling storytelling destination. University Marketing and Communications led the initiative, developing a clear editorial vision, governance model, and publishing workflows. The site emphasizes strong visuals and cinematic video, while maintaining rigorous news standards. Press releases continue to be distributed to media partners, now aligned with the new platform and branding. The project was guided by three core goals: establishing a single landing page for Fresno State stories and news, eliminating duplicated efforts from a dozen platforms across colleges and departments, and increasing engagement through consolidated promotion and distribution. This was essential, as the team produces over 300 stories annually. Fresno State Today represents an evolution in institutional storytelling while elevating the university’s connection with its audiences.

From the Judges

This is a strong, well-executed storytelling platform that delivers clear gains in both reach and engagement. The consolidation of multiple content streams into a single hub has led to substantial increases in traffic and sessions. Performance across social and email channels is above benchmarks.