Members of Eastern’s communication and marketing department have won a gold award for the work they did on producing a brochure for the EI&U capital campaign.

The department also received two bronze medals for specific photography and photographic essays, which were both taken by online specialist Jay Grabiec.

The win was a part of an annual contest through the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, which Eastern is a member of district five.

The district includes schools in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.

The awards were a part of the “Pride of CASE V.” The awards are determined based on reviews by other members of the organization that are often from other districts but do not have to be.

Robyn Carr, the director of donor relations in the office of university advancement, said she compiled the entries after consulting with Eastern’s communication and marketing department.

“Basically, every year they tweak the requirements so we review the new requirements and decide what we should apply for,” Carr said.

Carr said they then put out a call for entries to various departments on campus including the communication and marketing department and alumni services.

“We send out a list of what we want to apply for and see if they have things they think we should submit,” Carr said.

Carr said the reason they enter the contest is to recognize the people who are “behind the scenes” and do not always get recognized for their achievements.

“We like to think we are good, but it is great validation to have our peers say ‘yes you are good,’” Carr said.

She said what makes Eastern’s wins so impressive is not just the awards themselves but who the competition was.

While some categories are limited to schools with certain enrollment, both of the ones that Eastern won were not. Also, if the judges do not feel that any of the entries are deserving of an award, they will not give out certain awards or any awards in a specific category.

“What is so amazing is that we are arguably good as if not better than schools that have a staff multiple sizes bigger than ours and a much bigger budget,” Carr said

Eastern does not enter all the categories, Carr said, because they do not always have things to submit.

Bob Martin, vice president for university advancement, also helps in the selection and entry process and said one of the categories entered that has not been entered in the past was the Best Program in Case Statement/Cultivation Publications category where Eastern took gold.

“We were in the midst of a campaign so we had something to submit, but we don’t always have something like it to submit,” Martin said.

Carr said one of the cool things about that entry is that it was not just worked on by Eastern employees but also alumni.

“Everyone who worked on it was some way connected to Eastern,” Carr said. “It was a cool thing to be able to showcase that when applying for the award.”

The awards and certificates will be officially handed out at the CASE V&VI Better Together Joint Conference in Chicago, Dec. 9-11.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or alwywialowski@eiu.edu.