From the judges: Creative and engaging examples of quality writing for a digital platform. The unique approaches that were intentional to the target audience, links to campus partners, and captivating titles deserve to be recognized.
Emory News Center: Moving Beyond Press Releases
Category
Writing > Writing for the Web
Description
Grand Gold
Institution: Emory University
Title of entry: Emory News Center: Moving Beyond Press Releases
About this entry: The opening of a new campus building. The launch of a new community partnership. A professor recognized with a prestigious research award.
These types of stories are common for university newsrooms. Our challenge: to move beyond standard press releases, utilizing the unique advantages of writing for the web to tell them in ways that would engage and inspire our target audiences.
This entry focuses on three stories published in the online Emory News Center and featured on the main university homepage, Emory.edu. All could have been rote: “Emory announces partnership with Conservation Fund.” “Emory opens new student center.” “Emory professor wins Lasker Award.”
Instead, we took different approaches for each, tailored to appeal to their specific audiences and address their specific challenges:
• “From Georgia farms to Emory tables” is a human interest feature focused on the obstacles facing next-generation farmers and how a new Emory partnership will help them, while also furthering the university’s sustainability goals;
• “8 cool facts about the new Emory Student Center” is a “listicle” aimed at introducing students to a new campus amenity;
• “Immune response: How Max Cooper may have saved your life” is structured to personalize the impact of basic science research for readers who may not have a background in medicine.
All were also highly visual and, based on data from Google Analytics, highly successful.