Recognising and celebrating the achievements of UCT’s communication and marketing specialists

The Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards recently honoured the world-class achievements of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Communication and Marketing Department (CMD), who collectively walked away with nine awards.

Hosted annually, the awards recognise and celebrate distinction and the achievements of specialists and practitioners in the higher education sector. In a field that is highly dynamic, winning is no small feat. Being creative is the ultimate reflection of mastery. With these awards, entrants are rewarded for their creativity and bringing their visions to life.

Sparking creativity that’s better than the best

The awards programme serves a greater purpose than just recognising jobs well done. It’s aligning work to global best practices with a stringent entry process that gives you a chance to hone your creative delivery, while gauging if you’re improving on that creativity and messaging year-on-year. It’s also an invaluable opportunity to build your professional reputation, and have your work evaluated by leaders in the profession, who determine the standard of excellence.

Ruairi Abrahams, senior videographer and editor within CMD’s Newsroom and Video Production (NVP) unit, understands the concept of putting together quality work. The MACE Excellence Awards have three divisions and 30 categories, in which every entrant is required to complete an entry form, work plan, and work sample for each entry. The dedication, patience and commitment to enter is noteworthy itself.

“The entry process is quite time consuming, because you have to, in a way, reverse engineer your thought process. When working on a project, my biggest focus is weaving a strong narrative, while paying attention to quality. In the moment, you’re not thinking about whether it fits the award criteria or not. The level of detail required with a MACE entry is very high; you can’t just submit a short motivational paragraph,” Abrahams said.

The recognition the department received means they’ve done something right. Abrahams and his team accumulated four Bronze awards and one Silver award for videography skills.

“The Silver award was for a video profile we produced about an inspirational PhD graduate Nqobile Bundwini. Its recognition excites me the most because her story is very powerful. Nqobile’s thesis was rather innovative, and in the video, we explored a bit of her journey in completing it, the big challenges she faced, and how she overcame them and eventually triumphed.”

The power of storytelling

Niémah Davids, a writer in NVP, won a Silver award for her feature: “When silence speaks”. The article formed part of a suite of articles the newsroom produced in celebration of Workers’ Day to showcase colleagues and the work they do.

“The article honours colleagues with disabilities who help make this institution what it is. So, this award is really for them, with gratitude for the work they do. Creativity and storytelling contextualises the human-interest stories that we don’t often get to tell, affirms our identity and in doing so fosters social cohesion and nurtures lifelong connections,” Davids said. “This award is special because it acknowledges the importance of storytelling in this space, and essentially validates and recognises not just my work as a writer, but the work of all my colleagues behind the scenes and in front of the camera in the Newsroom and Video Production Unit, who help to make it possible.”

“I am most proud about how the story itself turned out because it is a very personal matter to speak about.”

Kamva Somdyala, another writer, won a Bronze award for his story: “Commemorating Uyinene Mrwetyana: A brother’s angst and remembrance”. Writing is a responsibility he does not take lightly.

“When I decided I wanted to become a journalist, it was buoyed by the power of storytelling because we all have a story and it is worth telling. Uyinene was the UCT student who was brutally murdered at a Claremont Post Office in 2019. The project wanted to bring in the view of her brother, in remembrance of his sister. It’s also very personal because Esona [the brother], has since become a good friend of mine, so balancing friendship and storytelling was a fine line. I am most proud about how the story itself turned out because it is a very personal matter to speak about.”

Making an impact beyond a moment

The Chairperson’s Award Of Excellence is the highly sought award, given to a single entry that embodies true excellence in marketing, advancement, or communication. In essence, it’s the overall winner across all divisions and categories. This year, CMD was the recipient of the coveted award for its “Restoring dignity: Sutherland reburial – stakeholder engagement campaigns”.

The significance of this award far surpasses the accolade. It’s about sitting on the right side of history, and playing a part in a massively restorative process of corrective action. With UCT having co-hosted the event meant that each member of the team, present over the three-day programme, played a part in ensuring that sacred remains were reburied with dignity.

“I am delighted that CMD won no less than nine MACE Excellence Awards this year. This is an outstanding achievement and a testament to the team’s hard work, exceptional creativity, unwavering dedication, and professionalism,” said the executive director of CMD, Libo Msengana-Bam.

“As the storytellers and custodians of UCT’s reputation and brand, CMD plays a pivotal role in bringing our university’s vision, values, and achievements to life and sharing them with the world. These awards reflect not only the team's excellence but also the strength and vibrancy that define UCT as an institution. Well done to the entire team. You make us immensely proud.”

Overall, the MACE Awards affirmed and recognised the innovative work of the department, while demonstrating the tapestry of interconnectedness within the team, the integration and synergy of every team member, and the high level, commitment and dedication to excellence.

This year, the department collectively roped in six Bronze Excellence Awards, two Silver Excellence Awards and the Chairperson’s Award of Excellence:

BRONZE

• DIVISION 2: Media - Social Media
  - March 2024 Grad Highlights
• DIVISION 3: Skills - Writing for features, documentaries and brochures
  - Commemorating Uyinene Mrwetyana: A brother’s angst and remembrance
• DIVISION 3: Skills - Videography
  - Chasing Dreams: Ntokozo Makhaza’s rugby excellence
  - Sutherland reburial
  - UCT ParaSport
  - Thabisa Dinga is giving back to KwaLanga through her love for music and dance

SILVER

• DIVISION 3: Skills - Writing for features, documentaries and brochures
  - When silence speaks
• DIVISION 3: Skills - Videography
  - Inspirational graduate: Nqobile Bundwini

CHAIRPERSON’S AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

• Restoring dignity: Sutherland reburial - stakeholder engagement campaigns