Every year, I love reviewing all of the winners from the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards that celebrate the best of the best in higher ed magazines (and of course, many other areas).

But there’s a small part of me — okay, fine, a big part — that also wants to celebrate the humble-yet-high-impact elements that don’t get the spotlight but deserve recognition.

That headline that wouldn’t get an ounce of SEO juice if it were online — but delights your audience for its clever reference to a school tradition or its skillful wordplay? BRING IT.

That class notes section that would make a general reader nod off — but earns the attention of all the alums in your audience, who read every word? YEP, I WANT TO SEE IT.

There is sometimes a belief that the best work of our schools should be storytelling that could slot in alongside The Atlantic or New Yorker, or photography that could find its way to National Geographic or Rolling Stone.

And I mean, sure. We should all have high standards for our work! But also, the best work is the work that feels hand-crafted for YOUR audience.

There are lots of areas of your magazine that might not feel flashy to an outsider or to the magazine world more broadly. But they are the things that YOUR readers love and value.

If we’re aiming to recognize what’s truly important in our magazines — the elements that build trust, strengthen a reader’s connection to an institution, and make them feel like they truly are still a part of your school’s community as an alum — then I think it’s time to widen the lens of award-worthy work.

So here it is: my wish list for the CASE Award categories I’d like to see.

1. Best class notes section

I’ve said it before, and I’ll never stop saying it: Class notes are the number-one thing readers actively turn to in their magazine.

It doesn’t matter if your alumni mailing list is 5,000 or 50,000 or 500,000.

It doesn’t even matter that your reader might not see anyone in your class notes section that they remember from their college days!

For many readers, this is the section that makes the magazine feel meaningful to them.

So let’s give it some love.

I’d love to see a CASE award that recognizes a class notes section that is robust, that goes beyond the highlights-reel announcements, and that includes a few other goodies to make it “hangoutable” for every reader on every page.

One class notes section I’ve kept in my files for years and often share with clients is Denison’s. It’s just a joy from front to back.

• I wrote about the surprising power of class notes here.

2. Best leader letter

Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m not generally a huge fan of leader letters.

But!

We’re at a pretty weird moment, politically, for higher ed. And I do think alumni want to know where their own institution stands.

So that’s why I think leader letters are worth including in my “awards I’d like to see” list.

There’s no use using a leader letter to respond to the latest political headline — it’ll probably be replaced by something else within days, if not hours. But leader letters can be the place where leaders put their stake in the ground about an institution’s values and goals.

I don’t want a bullet list of talking points, or a PR-shaped message that’s been polished to the point of meaninglessness.

I want a letter that feels like it’s from a thoughtful, principled, and trustworthy *actual* human being.

I’m not seeing too much of that these days! But I’m hungry for it.

• Here are a few more thoughts about leader letters.

3. Best campus news section

A campus news section doesn’t have to be a snooze.

Instead of focusing on the big grants and faculty achievements, make space for the news that reveals the soul of the campus today.

Maybe it’s the quirky tradition that got a fun twist this year. Perhaps it’s the class that’s making waves. Or maybe you just want to highlight the one big stat beautifully, instead of burying it in 300 yawn-inducing words.

There’s a real art to packaging news in a way that readers actually want to read.

I’ve long appreciated the short-and-sweet visual bites like these, but I think there’s an increasingly interesting case for longer pieces up front, as TCNJ has done in its recent issues.

• I shared a few more thoughts about campus news approaches in this 80-second video.

4. Best headline writing

A good headline can do more in 5 words than many stories can do in 500 (or sometimes 5000).

Great headlines are unexpected, creative, and meaningful.

In a few words, they convey ideas and tone. They invite a reader to go further.

And research shows that they may be the most single important words in any story you and your team write.

They can be crafted with clever typography, paired with amazing art, or strengthened with a subhead in ways that heighten their impact.

Too often, headlines are treated as afterthoughts. But the best ones are crafted, and sometimes even crowdsourced, like the one, for this the University of Richmond’s magazine.

• Here are a few more of my thoughts about headline writing.

5. Best athletics coverage

For some schools, athletics is nbd. And for some, it can feel like everything.

At the very highest levels, athletics is at a fascinating transitional moment, and at every level, there are incredible storytelling opportunities. Tell the story of your mascot, pre-competition meals or preseason workouts, how photographers get their award-winning images of the Gatorade showers.

I don’t want to see another dumb season recap in my lifetime, because there are so many GOOD athletics stories out there to tell in your pages.

• A million thoughts about athletics coverage in your magazine.

What’s the category you’re pretty sure you could take home a gold in?