In July, CASE announced the 2025 Circle of Excellence Award winners. 

As the premiere accolades for educational advancement worldwide, the COE Awards celebrate colleges, universities, and schools whose talented staff advanced their institutions. 

“The Circle of Excellence Awards shine a spotlight on the extraordinary creativity, passion, and innovation demonstrated by advancement professionals at institutions around the world,” says Sue Cunningham, CASE President and CEO. “These awards not only celebrate outstanding achievements but also underscore how essential this work is to strengthen educational communities and positively shapes lives and society. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to this year’s recipients for their dedication and remarkable accomplishments.” 

Teams from 640 institutions in 33 countries entered the awards this year, submitting 4,460 entries in 93 categories that span all advancement disciplines, including magazines and publications, design, fundraising, and more. 

Volunteer judges from CASE’s membership selected 477 entries for bronze, silver, gold, and Grand Gold recognition. Winners are chosen for overall quality, innovation, use of resources, and the impact on the institution or its communities. 

This year there were 21 Grand Gold winners, 126 gold winners, 155 silver winners, and 174 bronze winners. Among them was the University of Texas at Austin Law School’s Texas Law Magazine, which was awarded Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year Award. Although Texas Law has one of the biggest law school alumni communities at 27,000, from 2014 to 2024 it did not have a print magazine. Instead, it relied on occasional emails and about 12 events a year. The school launched the publication, which is published twice a year, in April 2024. The magazine features content that reflects the school’s strengths while also feeling contemporary. 

Volunteer Judges Make It Happen 

The COE Awards are a success each year because of the volunteer judges who serve on judging teams for awards categories. Judges volunteer their time and expertise, but they also say they experience many benefits, including the ability to pay it forward. 

“Volunteering to be a judge was a way to give back. Without judges, the great work from universities cannot be evaluated for awards. [It’s] also a way to get an inside look at the process for our future entries,” says Madeline Baro, Senior Director, Media Relations at Florida International University, U.S. She served as a judge in the magazines (publishing improvement) and videos (commercials) categories. 

“I was happy to participate as a judge as it is a wonderful way to see emerging trends in design and storytelling, connect with colleagues, and celebrate the great work of our educational institutions,” adds Elizabeth Selzer, Chief Advancement Officer at The Lamplighter School in Dallas, Texas, U.S. 

One of those benefits is being able to learn from other entries.  

“I learned that communicating your work process and showing success is hard! As far as how my experience will shape any of my team’s future entries, I will make sure we clearly outline the goals we had for a particular project,” says Baro. 

Judges also say they enjoy the judging process, particularly seeing work from other institutions. 

“It was amazing to watch videos or read magazines that showed that the university’s communicators really understood the identity and purpose of their institution,” says Baro. 

View the 2025 Circle of Excellence recipients.