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UFS wins top awards at the 2024 Mace Excellence Awards

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

Five Kovsies competing at National Championship for Physically Disabled

2016-03-18

Students from the University of the Free State (UFS) will compete at the Nedbank National Championship for the Physically Disabled in Bloemfontein from 21–23 March 2016. From back left is Johann van Heerden, Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, and Danie Breitenbach. Front from left is Louzanne Coetzee and Dineo Mokhosoa.
Photo: Jóhann Thormählen

Five students from the University of the Free State (UFS) will be taking part in the Nedbank National Championship for the Physically Disabled from 21–23 March 2016 in Bloemfontein. Dineo Mokhosoa, Juanré Jenkinson, Louzanne Coetzee, Danie Breitenbach and Johann van Heerden will represent the Free State at this event – one of the last opportunities to qualify for the Paralympic Games.

According to Martie Miranda, Head of the Center for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS) at the UFS, these students have shown they can achieve anything. “The Center for Universal Access and Disability Support is extremely proud of our students with disabilities who excel in sport and wish our students the best of luck with the national championships,” she said.“They confirm that ‘impossible’ is just a word.”

Most of the students already have excellent national and international rankings in their respective categories.

Mokhosoa (Cerebral Palsy), is ranked first in South Africa in discus, shot-put and long jump. This Social Work student also has two South African records in shot-put and long jump respectively behind her name. Jenkinson (Cerebral Palsy) is ranked eighth in the world in shot-put.

Coetzee (blind), who competes in the 800 m, 1 500 m and 5 000 m, is fifth in the world in the 800 m and ninth in the 1500 m. Breitenbach (blind) runs 400 m, 800 m and 1 500 m. Breitenbach, a Law student, is ranked fifth in the world in the 800 m.

Van Heerden (Cerebral Palsy) competes in swimming in the 50 m, 100 m and 200 m breaststroke. The Education student is ranked third in the 50 m, seventh in the 100 m and third in the 200 m in the world.

The Paralympic Games is taking place in September 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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