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05 December 2024 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Kaleidoscope
MACE Winners 2024
From left to right: Burneline Kaars (Head: Employee Wellness and Organisational Development), Dr WP Wahl (Student Life Director), Linda Greyling (Senior Officer: Special Projects, Student Recruitment Services), Gerben Van Niekerk (Senior Officer: Kovsie Support Services), Malia Maranyane (Senior Officer: Undergraduate Marketing, Student Recruitment Services), Nomonde Mbadi (Student Recruitment Services Director), and Susan Van Jaarsveld (Senior Director: Human Resources).

On 28 November 2024, the University of the Free State (UFS) did it again – reigned as champions at the annual Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards and walking away with two of the top awards: the MACE Award for Outstanding Research and the Severus Cerff Award for Consistent Excellence.

KovsieX was named the overall winner of the MACE Award for Outstanding Research. This award is made to the entry with the highest score in research, clearly demonstrating how research has supported the strategic objectives of the institution and the project. KovsieX is a multiplatform approach designed to leverage the strengths of diverse media channels. This digitalisation aligns with Vision 130, leveraging emerging technologies to enhance teaching and learning quality and efficiency of non-academic support structures and systems.

The UFS’ entries were of such high quality that the university won the sought-after Severus Cerff Award for Consistent Excellence. This award is based on the number of entries entered by an institution and the number and level of those entries winning awards. The award is therefore made to the institution with the highest success ratio.

Furthermore, the UFS Matriculant of the Year event received a Silver Award – entries scoring 5.75 or higher earn a Silver Award, placing this event among some of the top achievers in the events category. Three UFS entries received Gold Awards and were the winners in their respective categories: KovsieChat (Digital Channels), 2024 Women’s Day Breakfast (Events), and KovsieX (Stakeholder Engagement Campaigns). This is a magnificent achievement for the UFS.

"Winning a MACE award at this early stage is proof that KovsieX is not just meeting national standards – it’s setting them. If we can achieve this level of excellence now, imagine how we’ll compete on the global stage when the project is fully realised,” says Gerben van Niekerk, Student Media Manager.

Lacea Loader, Senior Director: Communication and Marketing and Coordinator of the MACE Excellence Awards, explained that a record number of entries were received for the Excellence Awards this year. “We are ecstatic about the direction of communication at the UFS and that the university has been able to maintain the quality of its entries in recent years,” says Loader.

The MACE Excellence Awards takes place annually as part of the MACE National Conference, recognising and celebrating excellence and the achievements of specialists and practitioners in marketing, advancement, and communication in the higher-education sector. This year, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) hosted the conference from 27 to 28 November 2024.

In 2023, the UFS won 11 awards, including the Chairperson’s Award of Excellence. 

News Archive

Lira and Karen Zoid rock Kovsie Stage Extravaganza
2013-09-23

Joined on stage by some of Kovsies’ most talented students, award-winning artists dazzle Bloemfontein audience with show-stopping performances.
23 September 2013
Photos: Johan Roux

 

It was a proper party at this year’s Kovsie Stage Extravaganza, with red-hot performances by two of South Africa’s most celebrated artists.

Singers Lira and Karen Zoid had the audience in the Callie Human Centre at the Bloemfontein Campus on their feet with some of their greatest hits. With the artists on stage,were some of Kovsies’ most talented students, who hold their own among the two music stars.

Lira, a ten-time SAMA prize-winner, showed why she performed at US President Barack Obama's inauguration ball earlier this year. She had the audience eating from her hand with songs from her own albums, as well as from other artists. Between songs, she also offered advice to students and encouraged them to make their mark in life. "The knowledge you acquire here, will open doors for you," she told students, before singing favourite songs likeSomething inside so Strong, Rise Again and Ixesha.

Zoid, also a SAMA prize-winner, enchanted the audience with favourites like Afrikaners is Plesierig and Small world. Things heated up when she did a cover version of Johnny Clegg’s Asimbonanga with Kovsie students joining her on stage. She gave R200 to one lucky student to take his girlfriend for coffee later on.

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