Awards and Scholarships
Institutional Awards
More Ways to Win—and a Simplified Nomination Process
We’ve combined the best of the District VI Awards with the Circle of Excellence Awards to create a single, streamlined program that offers even more opportunities for recognition. When you enter the Circle of Excellence Awards, your submissions are also automatically considered for Best of District VI honors—at no additional cost.
Award categories and judging criteria are regularly updated to reflect the latest best practices in advancement, and several categories are now tailored by staff size to ensure fair and meaningful recognition for institutions of all sizes.
Chief Executive Leadership Award
The Chief Executive Leadership Award celebrates CASE member institutional chief executive officers, college and university system heads, and trustees for outstanding efforts in promoting the value of education and supporting advancement at their campuses. Recipients, through their ability to create a vision and inspire others, have established a positive image for their institution while leading it to even higher levels of success.
Virginia Carter Smith Recognition Award
This award is presented to senior advancement professionals with exceptional service to CASE who are ending or will be ending their careers within the last or next 12 months. They must have at least 15 years of successful participation in institutional advancement and be employed by a CASE VI member institution at the time of retirement. The award is presented at the conference nearest the recipient's retirement date.
Distinguished Service Award
The CASE Distinguished Service Award celebrates inspirational advancement professionals whose accomplishments and longtime service to CASE have made a significant impact on institutional advancement. The award acknowledges individuals whose embodiment of the spirit of CASE, particularly generosity in sharing knowledge with the community of practice, have earned the respect and admiration of fellow colleagues.
Volunteer of the Year Award
This award is presented to persons outside CASE who have given time, talent, and/or gifts to further the success of education through a CASE VI member institution.
Rising Star Award
The Rising Star Award recognizes individuals working in educational advancement for a maximum of seven years demonstrating their potential for leadership within their chosen area of advancement, as well as an enthusiasm and commitment to their profession and to CASE.
Scholarships
CASE will offer scholarships for qualified members to attend the District V & VI Annual Conference 2026 Indianapolis, IN | April 27 - 29, 2026.
This scholarship covers the conference registration fee.
All CASE members are welcome to apply. Preference for scholarships will be given to people who meet any of these criteria:
- Never attended a CASE conference.
- New to educational advancement.
- New to a leadership role.
- Student who is planning a career in educational advancement.