Hobart and William Smith Colleges

11 January 2008 CASE honors Centennial Web site, Campaign video

For the second time this academic year, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has honored Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

The William Smith Centennial Web site (www.hws.edu/centennial) recently received a 2008 Silver Award in the special purpose Web site category.

This was the first project that our Web team worked on together, said Director of Communications Cathy Williams. The Centennial Web site is dear to our hearts and laid the groundwork for the new HWS site. It was also an incredibly fun project for everyone involved.

Under the direction of Dean of William Smith College Debra DeMeis P06, Associate Vice President of Institutional Advancement Mara OLaughlin 66 and Director of Alumnae Affairs Kathy Killius Regan 82, the Web site was designed to celebrate the first 100 years of William Smith College through profiles, essays, a 573-entry timeline and an interactive scrapbook kept by one of the Colleges first graduates.

CASE describes the site in this way: Site was created with a long list of diverse objectives which were masterfully orchestrated. A particular strength of the site is its interactive and intellectual elements.

Since the sites launch just over a year ago, thousands of people have visited the site and submitted more than 200 entries for the interactive Six Degrees of William Smith game.

Earlier in the year, CASE awarded a Gold Medal to the Campaign for the Colleges video, which was shown in September 2006 at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, to launch the current capital campaign. Also screened at the on-campus launch later that fall at the Bristol Field House, the video tells the stories of several alumni and alumnae, and how their lives were transformed at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

CASEs Electronic Media: Fundraising Features competition was the most competitive this year, according to the judges, and the winners, were outstanding examples of the effective use of video to inform, inspire, and engage donors and prospects.

Archival footage is often used and often poorly in fundraising videos, the judges noted. This video uses old footage well, like seasoning, to set up a look at Hobart and William Smith today that is tied inextricably to its past. [It] offers brief and well-edited sound and video bites to highlight notable aspects of the Colleges.

There are many voices and faces, and many engaging stories and the Gratitude conclusion is a tour de force that includes super-brief on-camera comments by an amazing 75 members of the Hobart and William Smith family. This video is an outstanding example of warmth that works.

The awards will be presented Jan. 28 at the District II annual conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. CASE is the professional organization for advancement professionals at all levels who work in alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing and other areas. With a membership of more than 700 colleges and universities, District II is the largest of the eight CASE districts.