The Marketing and Communication Department (MCD) walked away with three prestigious national accolades during the 2024 Marketing, Advancement, and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards.

The team secured a silver award in Division 1: Campaigns for the "BOK Fridays CPUT" initiative, which ran during the Rugby World Cup. The campaign was the brainchild of Cathy Cloete, who is responsible for events and PR.

In Division 3: Skills, the team earned bronze awards in two categories. The bronze in the category Design for Digital Channels applauded the creativity behind the Shero campaign and was created by Kurt Mitchell.

The second bronze award was in the category Writing for the Web, and recognised an article, Graduate Excels Despite Great Loss, which was written by communication officer, Ilse Fredericks-Kennedij.

Hosted annually, the MACE Excellence Awards celebrate outstanding achievements in marketing, advancement, and communication across the higher education sector. These awards acknowledge exceptional campaigns, innovative strategies, and the talents of practitioners who bring their visions to life.

The ceremony marked the end of a successful two-day MACE National Conference, which was hosted by CPUT at the Bellville Campus. Under the theme Maximising Impact: Innovative Strategies for Transformative Higher Education Marketing, Communication, and Advancement, delegates explored cutting-edge practices.

The conference culminated in the glamorous Excellence Awards ceremony and dinner at the scenic Eureka Estate in Durbanville. Themed "Under the African Skies," the event was a celebration of skill, dedication, and excellence in higher education marketing and communication.

Cathy Cloete, who manages Public Relations and Events, said she was “truly honoured to receive this award for the CPUT campaign”. This recognition is a testament to the hard work, creativity, and collaboration that went into bringing a vision to life. Thank you to my colleagues at CPUT —it’s a win we can all celebrate together!"

Dr Garth Van Gensen, Director: MCD, said the MACE annual national conference is an opportunity for colleagues at public universities and TVET colleges to gather and share best practices. “Very often our issues are uniform, and MACE gives us a chance to gather and learn from one another. This year CPUT scooped three awards and hosted the almost 300 delegates at our Bellville campus. Our organising team did an exceptional job and showed their peers that quality, creativity, and hard work are in the DNA of everything we do at CPUT.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce

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The CPUT Marketing and Communications Department has come out tops at a national tertiary competition.

The department clinched nine awards at the Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards, which was recently held in Cape Town.

MACE recognises excellence and the achievements of university and FET College practitioners in marketing, communication and advancement.

The department scooped first prize in several categories. This includes media relations, advertising, posters and public relations. It also clinched the highest overall marks for the advertising and electronic and digital media categories.

The department also scooped the top award for streaming of the April graduation ceremonies. This award was shared with the Department of Students Affairs and the Web Development Office in MIS.

Director of the department, Norman Jacobs says he is proud of CPUT’s achievements.

“This wonderful achievement was a team effort and I am extremely proud of the MCD team, in particular Severus Cerff who submitted four of the five winning entries. This is the best that CPUT has ever done and is a testimony to the excellent work done in the department,” says Jacobs.

By Candes Keating

Written by CPUT News
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The excellent work produced by the Marketing and Communication Department (MCD) was recognised during the recent MACE Excellence Awards, where the department walked away with two prizes.

The MACE (Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education) Excellence Awards takes place annually and celebrates excellence and the achievements of specialists and practitioners in marketing, advancement and communication in the higher education sector.

This year’s awards ceremony and annual MACE conference were hosted by the University of the Western Cape and 255 award entries were received from 17 institutions.

MCD won two bronze awards – the first was in the Campaigns category: stakeholder engagement campaigns for the Shero campaign, which ran on the university’s social media channels during Women’s Month and featured phenomenal female staff members at CPUT.

The second award, which was in the same category, was for the 2023 Vice-Chancellor’s State of the University address.

Cathy Cloete, who manages Public Relations and Events, said winning two excellence awards for these campaigns for CPUT was a significant achievement and a testament to the outstanding efforts and creativity of the individuals or team involved.

“Such recognition typically reflects a high standard of work, commitment to excellence and innovation in the field of marketing, communication, or related areas,” said Cloete, who submitted the entries.

She said receiving an excellence award acknowledges the successful execution of a well-planned strategy and the ability to effectively communicate and connect with the target audience.

Kurt Mitchell, who played an integral role in the Shero campaign and accepted the award on behalf of the department, said: “This was a collaboration between myself and Cathy Cloete, as well as the support from colleagues. I'm grateful for the opportunity and appreciate the recognition received from MACE."

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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