Tuesday, Jun 15, 2021
Tally includes 5 gold awards
by Adam Grybowski
Rider University took home 14 awards, including five gold awards, from the 14th annual CUPPIE Awards. The awards spanned communications and marketing materials in print and online, as well as social media, video and interactive media.
Rider received gold awards for its website redesign, "Free to Roam" video, billboard campaign, Lifting Barriers mailer and COVID-19 dashboard.
"We're judged among the best of the best in our industry,” says Associate Vice President of Communication & Marketing Kristine Brown. “I could not be more proud of this recognition and each member of our team who contributed to creating this award-winning work and elevating the profile of Rider University.”
The awards are presented by College and University Public Relations and Associated Professionals, or CUPRAP. The professional organization accepted a total of 357 entries that spanned December 2019 to December 2020. Judges represented experts in the field of communications, including corporate executives and media professionals. This year, in recognition of the pandemic, a special COVID-19 category was added, and the awards were revealed online instead of in person.
In addition to the gold awards, Rider took home three silver awards for campus signs, social media and photography, as well as a bronze award for branding. Honorable mentions included categories in interactive media, viewbook, alumni magazine and public relations.
The majority of the awards were for work produced in-house, but two awards — one gold award and one honorable mention — included work completed in collaboration between University Marketing & Communications and the creative agency 160over90, which partnered with Rider in launching a new brand campaign beginning in 2019.
"These awards are especially meaningful in a year that presented many challenges to the way we traditionally work," says Pamela Abbazia, Rider's executive director of marketing and digital strategy. "On top of the strong performance of our multi-channel campaign strategy, we are honored to also receive validation from our peers in higher education. The recognition is also a testament to the thoughtful collaboration amongst our colleagues and partners, whose dedication to Rider plays a large role in the ongoing success of the University."
University Marketing & Communications has received several other awards this year for its work. Earlier this year, it received six gold Collegiate Advertising Awards and two silver awards from the 36th annual Educational Advertising Awards.