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12 December 2019 | Story Amanda Tongha | Photo MACE
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Staff members from the Department of Communication and Marketing celebrating their MACE Excellence Awards.

The Department of Communication and Marketing again received national and international recognition for its communication and awareness campaigns this year. 

On 28 November 2019, the department made a big splash at the national Marketing, Advancement, and Communication in Education (MACE) 2019 Excellence Awards, winning multiple awards for its work in communication and marketing. Scooping up five awards, the department earned accolades for the communication campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process, the Kovsie App, and awareness campaigns for gender-based violence and the Kovsies Multilingual Mokete. 

This comes on top of the two awards the department won at the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Africa Silver Quill Awards during an awards ceremony presented in Centurion, Gauteng, on 16 October 2019. During this event, the department was also acknowledged with an Excellence Award for the Kovsie App communication campaign and a Merit Award for the communication campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process.


Celebrating the best in marketing, advancement, and communication

Hosted annually, the MACE Excellence Awards recognise and celebrate the excellence of specialists and practitioners in marketing, advancement, and communication in the higher-education sector. MACE plays a vital role in adding value to practitioners through high-quality development programmes, facilitating networking partnerships and transformation, as well as promoting best practices among these professions at member institutions.

At the 2018 MACE Excellence Awards, the Department of Communication and Marketing received the prestigious Severus Cerff Award, presented to a higher-education institution that consistently excels in the fields of marketing and communication. The department also brought back six other awards, including three gold awards, which are awarded to the highest-scoring entries in the 30 categories evaluated. These ranged from brand-building campaigns to print publications; website to social media, assessed by marketing and communication professionals in the higher-education and private sectors.  

Continuing its winning streak at the 2019 MACE Excellence Awards held in Port Elizabeth from 27 to 28 November 2019, the Department of Communication and Marketing was singled out for keeping stakeholders informed on the MT Steyn statue review process. For this, the department received the prestigious Business Issue Special Award, presented to an entry that successfully addressed a critical business issue. 

Student Recruitment content
Staff members from the Department of Student Recruitment Services celebrating their MACE Excellence Awards

Being recognised nationally and internationally

Adding to the UFS tally, the Department of Student Recruitment Services was also recognised at the 2019 MACE Excellence Awards for its communication campaigns to market the university. The department won three awards, one gold (for the School Anthem – Petunia Secondary School campaign) and two bronze awards for the Light the fire – Grade 9 school subject choice intervention and Re-engineering of the UFS Undergraduate Prospectus 2020 campaigns, bringing the number of UFS MACE Excellence Awards for this year to eight. 

Lacea Loader, Director: Communication and Marketing, who accepted the Business Issue Special Award on behalf of the University of the Free State (UFS), says the recognition affirms the role the department plays in building and promoting the UFS brand. 

“I am immensely proud of the national and international recognition the Department of Communication and Marketing received for its work this year. Being recognised by our peers for quality and innovative work is most rewarding and it demonstrates the dedication and commitment of a highly innovative and creative team.”  

The awards won by the Department of Communication and Marketing included three gold awards for the communication campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process, Gender-based violence Awareness Campaign, and Kovsies Multilingual Mokete Communication Campaign; a silver award for the KovsieApp Communication Campaign; and the Business Issue Special Award for the Communication Campaign on the MT Steyn statue review process. 

- A record number of 202 entries from 15 institutions were evaluated in the 2019 MACE Excellence Awards. 

News Archive

Kovsies paint Bethlehem red!
2010-03-20

At the matric evening of the Secondary School Witteberg in Bethlehem were, from the left: Lebogang Motaung; Rozelle Venter; Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS; Ernest Bezuidenhout; Donald Motaung; and Mr Rudi Buys, Dean of Student Affairs at the UFS.
Photo: Lynda Greyling


“The learners of the High School Witteberg are a wonderful example of the quality of students that we can expect as first years here at Kovsies next year,” Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Free State (UFS) said last night during a matric evening attended by 121 Grade 12 learners and their parents in a packed hall at the Secondary School Witteberg in Bethlehem.

Prof. Jansen and his wife Grace, as well as some of his colleagues were guests of honour at the event.

“We want to make a difference in the lives of our students at Kovsies and we want to ensure that our students make a difference in a divided world. This is why I want each Grade 12 learner who is here tonight to come and study at the UFS,” he told the learners and their parents.

“The UFS is going to become the university in the country that is serious about quality. We want to draw the best students. Quality entails hard work. It is about perseverance and your commitment towards your studies. That is the type of students we want.”

“My door is open to our students and they have access to come and talk to me. I also regularly sit at different places on the campus and then invite students to come and talk to me. I want our students to feel at home here.”

“I also want our students to feel free to talk about the use of language at the UFS. We love Afrikaans, English and Sesotho and are not going to fight about language. We are going to develop the use of Afrikaans so that more students can speak it – and this also goes for English and Sesotho.”

Prof. Jansen said that Kovsie students had to be balanced students. “Our students must also excel in sport, art, etc., because the development of students who are properly prepared for the workplace is what we strive for as a tertiary institution. Therefore we are going to establish an office that assists students in their career preparation and will offer students internships so that they can come into contact with leading firms in the commerce and industry sectors.”

“However, we shall also actively enhance our students’ learning experience and therefore we are going to send a group of first-year students overseas in the second semester this year to gain knowledge about issues like integration and collaboration.”

At the occasion Prof. Jansen announced that bursaries to study at the UFS in 2011 would be awarded to the two top Grade 12 learners of the school.

The Secondary School Witteberg had a 100% pass rate in the Grade 12 final examinations the past few years. In 2009 the school was seventh amongst the top 50 schools in the Free State Province. Five learners from the school were also amongst the top 20 learners in the Province last year. The school has already produced many top students for the UFS.

Mediaverklaring
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (acting)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl@ufs.ac.za  
18 March 2010
 

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