For its work on the single-day special event “The Sacred Journey: Re-Making Our World Anew,” St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s Office of Institutional Advancement won a 2022 Circle of Excellence gold award from the international Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). This is the second time in two years Institutional Advancement (IA) has been awarded in the Circle of Excellence competition; in 2020 IA earned a silver for its Giving Tuesday campaign.
The international awards program honors outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing at colleges, universities, independent schools and affiliated nonprofits. In 2022, CASE received more than 4,500 entries from 636 institutions in nearly 30 countries. Of those, volunteer judges determined 626 exemplary entries for bronze, silver, gold, or grand gold recognition. Winners were selected based on several factors, including overall quality, innovation, use of resources and the impact on the institution or its external and internal communities, such as alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff.
“The Sacred Journey: Re-Making Our World Anew,” observed the first anniversary of the dedication to St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s Commemorative to Enslaved Peoples of Southern Maryland. CASE judges remarked that the Sacred Journey event presented “great use of a variety of disciplines to convey the impact and message” and “good delivery across multiple stakeholder groups.” Led by Vice President for Institutional Advancement Carolyn Curry, the team also earned a silver in the 2022 Educational Advertising Awards for the design of a print marketing piece for admission.
To learn more about the award winning Sacred Journey event, go to https://www.smcm.edu/sacredjourney/.
