It’s about people…and excellence
- Wits University
Wits Advancement Division wins 11 awards at the Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education Excellence Awards.
The new Wits Anglo American Digital Dome, the R250 million Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex, the Sibanye-Stillwater Innovation Bridge, the new African Rainbow Minerals Building, a Homecoming Weekend comprising of seven events including a concert and centenary parade, and a William Kentridge production are only some of the major projects that made up the Wits Centenary Campaign.
Whilst many events were hosted across the University, a dedicated team was responsible for driving the Centenary Campaign. This comprised a major R3 billion fundraising campaign, a tailored alumni relations campaign spanning four continents, a visible marketing and communications campaign, and an ambitious events calendar that saw over 100 events being hosted.
These initiatives saw Wits reaching millions of stakeholders, both directly and indirectly. Some of these efforts resulted in awards at the Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards in 2022 and 2023.
“The Wits Centenary Campaign was only successful because of the dedication of our people and their commitment to excellence. Members of the Advancement Division committed their expertise, experience, time, and made an exuberant effort to ensure the success of the Campaign,” says Shirona Patel, Head: Communications and Coordinator of the Advancement Division. "They were ably led by the heads of these units, who provided the guidance and encouragement for them to achieve excellence, as is reflected in some of these awards.”
Wits was honoured with awards for its publications including the Wits Review and Curios.ty 100, a Wits100 video, Wits in 60 seconds, the staff portal on the Wits website, a mining stakeholder engagement programme, feature writing for the Anglo American Digital Dome, the Wits Wellness Week, amongst others.
“Congratulations to all those who participated in the Wits Centenary Campaign, and the MACE Excellence Awards. Your efforts are recognised and appreciated. Well done!” concludes Patel.
Wits University’s 2023 MACE awards:
Division 1 – Campaigns
- Bridging the gap between mining and people: New high-tech digital dome catapults Johannesburg Planetarium into the future (Silver)
- Wits Staff Wellness Week 2023 (Bronze)
Division 2 – Media
- Wits in 60 Seconds | Episode 20: Your weekly Wits News digest (Gold)
- WITSReview (Silver)
- Wits centenary video (Silver)
- Wits University case for support (Bronze)
- Profiling our academics (Bronze)
Division 3 – Skills
- Curios.ty Issue 14 and Curios.ty 14 (#Wits100): A century of doing good (Gold)
- WITSReview (Silver)
- New high-tech digital dome catapults Johannesburg Planetarium into the future – Wits Anglo American digital dome media pack (Silver)
- Alumni homecoming weekend: Email campaign 2022 (Bronze).