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UFS achieves top honours at the 2023 MACE Excellence Awards ceremony

05 December 2023 Photo Francois van Vuuren

MACE Awards Winners 2023 — From left are: Belinda Janeke, Head: Career Services; Barend Nagel, Multimedia Specialist, Department of Communication and Marketing; Moeketsi Mogotsi, Social Media Specialist, Department of Communication and Marketing; Lacea Loader, Senior Director: Department of Communication and Marketing; Tobias van den Bergh, Counselling Psychologist, Student Counselling and Development; Mojalefa Rabolinyane, Assistant Officer, Student Counselling and Development; Burneline Kaars, Head: Leadership, Organisational Development and Employee Well-being; Lizet Holtzhausen, Officer, Leadership, Organisational Development and Employee Well-being; Marieta Landman, Senior Officer, Department of Student Recruitment Services; and Sandile Ncedani, Senior Officer, Department of Student Recruitment Services.

On 16 November 2023, five departments at the University of the Free State made a big splash at the national association for Marketing, Advancement, and Communication in Education (MACE) 2023 Excellence Awards.

Collectively, the UFS won 11 awards, including the sought-after Chairperson’s Award of Excellence, awarded to a single entry that embodies true excellence in marketing, advancement, or communication. In other words, the overall winner across all divisions and categories.

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.

The MACE National Conference held on the Belville Campus of the University of the Western Cape from 15 to 16 November 2023, preceded the glamorous awards function. The theme for the conference was ‘Higher education institutions in a world of artificial intelligence’. After two informative days, delegates attended the awards function, where their work and skills were recognised.

The winner takes it all

The UFS Leadership, Organisational Development, and Employee Well-Being won the Chairperson’s Award for its Women’s Day Breakfast. This memorable event also received a platinum award. Silver awards were raked in by Student Counselling and Development (DoDay Mental Health Campaign), Career Services (Careers Podcast Series), Student Recruitment Services (Motion Graphics Video), and the Department of Communication and Marketing (DCM) won three silver awards for its Social Media Squad project, the Vision 130 video, and the Dr Maye Musk Honorary Doctorate Graduation Ceremony. Bronze awards were given to DCM for the Vision 130 Launch and Youth Month, and the Kovsie Connect Virtual Experience won Student Recruitment Services its second award of the evening.

Excellence in everything we do

Lacea Loader, Senior Director: Communication and Marketing and Coordinator of the MACE Excellence Awards, says the recognition affirms the high level of communication generated by the institution. “I am immensely proud of the national recognition from our peers for the quality and innovative work we do. This year in particular, different departments entered the awards programme, which is exemplary of the integration and synergy of the work done in the different departments,” she says.

News Archive

Want to make a difference in the world? Here is how.

2016-05-13

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Student Bursary Fund Campaign booklet (pdf)
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Student Bursary Fund Campaign launched: #FundAFuture and make a difference
Motho ke motho ka batho. A person is a person through others

We live in a world filled with want. Often, we ache to make a difference, but become overwhelmed and despondent when we look into this chasm of need. However, the University of the Free State (UFS) has created a way for each of us to change lives, in much the same way that the life of Nozi Bonje has been changed.

“Through the opportunities given to me, I realised that you don’t have to be defined by the school you went to. You can do so much more – and you can dream big dreams and realise them.”

Then
The early chapters of Nozi’s life story reveal a shy girl, hiding between the pages of her books on the playground of a township school. With barely a whisper, Nozi was slipping into a desolate future where dreams existed only in sleep.

Now
Today, that timid young girl has grown into a woman who throws her head back in effortless laughter, confidence sparking off her in bright arcs. What changed the trajectory of her future? Financial support for a tertiary education altered Nozi’s life permanently.

“If I didn’t go to university, I would have been this sad little person,” she remarks. “Studying is not just about learning from a textbook, though. It also challenges you to think critically. You start seeing things in a different perspective, and respond differently.”

Description: Nozi_FundAFuture Tags: Nozi_FundAFuture

Nozi Bonje
Photo: Sonia Small

Giving back
Funding enabled Nozi to obtain a BSc degree in Human Molecular Biology at the UFS in 2015. She was one of the top students in her class. Inspired and driven, she is currently pursuing an honours degree in Molecular Genetics, also at the UFS.

“My main dream is to make a difference in people’s lives. For me, it’s all about giving back, because so many people helped me throughout my journey.”

Student Bursary Fund Campaign
In order to help increase the number of lives transformed through higher education – such as Nozi’s – the UFS has established the Student Bursary Fund Campaign. This campaign aims to raise money to fund talented, deserving students who lack the financial means of obtaining a university degree. We cannot do this alone, though.

Your support is crucial.

Each contribution will bring us closer to our goal while changing the future of our youth. Visit our Giving page for ways to donate.

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