An ambience of euphoria lingers at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) after its success at the 2013 Marketing, Advancement & Communication in Education (MACE) Congress Excellence Awards ceremony where it scooped 17 awards.

MACE unites marketing, advancement and communication practitioners from Higher Education (HE) and Further Education and Training (FET) sectors in South Africa. The conference promotes competence, networking and partnerships as well as advancement in marketing and communication departments within HE.

The highly-anticipated conference was held at the University of Free State in Bloemfontein this year from Monday, (November 18) until Wednesday (November 20) where personnel from various Higher Education institutions were in attendance.

The Excellence Awards took place during a Gala Dinner on Tuesday. The highlights of the evening include DUT winning the overall award for its outdoor advertising/branding as well as receiving an award for the best outdoor advertising/branding for its Campus Billboard Campaign. The University also received a Merit Award for its current cinema and television advertisement.

Alan Khan, the Director of the Division of Corporate Affairs under which the Marketing and Communications departments fall, said, “Being recognised by your peers is always a proud moment and I am thrilled that our efforts at DUT is making such a positive difference. When I made the decision to partner with Workspace, which is DUT’s own design agency staffed by our talented students, some people thought I was nuts! However, once again, we have illustrated the true value of our experts at Workspace with these achievements at MACE 2013. I am very proud of our entire team at Corporate Affairs and we are consistently working hard to promote a positive image of our staff, students, Alumni and the wider DUT family.”

DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Ahmed Bawa also congratulated the Corporate Affairs Division and Workspace saying, “DUT has again flourished at the 2013 MACE Conference with 17 awards. This is a remarkable feat, especially if we take into account the fact that all this innovative, imaginative, aesthetically pleasing design work has been done internally by staff and students. The participation of our students in this endeavour is absolutely wonderful – we marvel at their creativity and we are also acutely aware of just how important it is for their own future careers. To our Corporate Affairs Division – brilliant work. Well done!”

Awards

1. Merit Award for Cinema and Television advert in the category of:
Advertising: Broadcast

2. Skills Award: Creativity and Innovation for the June 16 project in the category of:
Outdoor Advertising / Branding: Outdoor Posters and Banners

3. Excellence Award for the June 16 project in the category of:
Outdoor Advertising / Branding: Outdoor Posters and Banners

4. Skills Award: Design for the June 16 project in the category of:
Outdoor Advertising / Branding: Outdoor Posters and Banners

5. Skills Award: Writing for Video Tech Branding (A career in Video) in the category of:
Integrated Campaigns and Projects: Student Recruitment

6. Excellence Award for Video Tech Branding (A career in Video) in the category of:
Integrated Campaigns and Projects: Student Recruitment

7. Skills Award: Photography for Video Tech branding (A career in video) in the category of:
Integrated Campaigns and Projects: Student Recruitment

8. Skills Award: Creativity and Innovation for Video Tech branding (A career in video) in the category of:
Integrated Campaigns and Projects: Student Recruitment

9. Skills Award: Design for Video Tech branding (A career in video) in the category of:
Integrated Campaigns and Projects: Student Recruitment

10. Excellence Award for being the overall winner in the category of:
Outdoor Advertising/ Branding

11. Merit Award for the Campus Billboard Campaign in the category of:
Outdoor Advertising/ Branding: Billboards

12. Skills Award: Creativity and Innovation for the Campus Billboard Campaign in the category of:
Outdoor Advertising/ Branding: Billboards

13. Excellence Award for MTech and BTech Research 2012 in the category of:
External Printed Publications: Special Publication

14. Skills Award: Creativity and Innovation for MTech and BTech Research 2012 in the category of:
External Printed Publications: Special Publications

15. Skills Award: Writing for MTech and BTech Research 2012 in the category of:
External Printed Publications: Special Publications

16. Skills Award: Design for MTech and BTech Research 2012 in the category of:
External Printed Publications: Special Publications

17. Merit Award for the 2012 DUT Annual Report in the category of:
External Printed Publications

-Naledi Hlefane

Pictured: DUT representatives who attended the 2013 Marketing, Advancement & Communication in Education (MACE) Congress held in Bloemfontein this week.
Front row from left: Portia Redmond, Manager & Specialist Graphic Designer in the Design Studio and Sinegugu Ndlovu, Manager in the Communications Department.
Back row from left: Vasantha Govender, Manager of Marketing and Public Relations and Rowan Gatfield, Lecturer in the Department of Visual Communication.