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Circle of Excellence Award Areas and Categories

Key Details for 2025

  • Circle of Excellence opens Jan. 8, 2025, and closes March 12. 
  • Enter categories for your staff size. Because teams of any size can achieve excellence, CASE’s Circle of Excellence Awards offer categories by staff size. Enter categories for less than 10 staff, 10 to 25 staff, or greater than 25 staff (based on CASE roster).
  • Awards will be judged locally and globally. In 2022, CASE implemented a new awards system in which each CASE region (Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America) and North America districts considered nominations submitted by their local institutions for their “Best of” recognition. These Best of District/Region are back for 2025.
  • Explore nearly 100 categories to enter, including engagement (student, targeted constituency, and volunteer engagement), leadership (change management, diversity, and talent management), and more.
  • Unless otherwise noted, 2025 Circle of Excellence entries should be original work that was produced or completed between January 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024.

Award Areas and Categories

 

Tip: Many nominations easily qualify for entry in more than one category. You can easily copy nomination information from one category to another, but each entry requires its own separate fee. If an entry does not meet the criteria for a category in which it is entered, CASE and the award judges reserve the right to move the entry to a more appropriate category. 

** Grand Gold and Gold Award winners from these categories are automatically considered for the Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year Award.

Tip: Many nominations easily qualify for entry in more than one category. You can easily copy nomination information from one category to another, but each entry requires its own separate fee. If an entry does not meet the criteria for a category in which it is entered, CASE and the award judges reserve the right to move the entry to a more appropriate category. 

Tip: Entries in Publications categories are judged on a variety of criteria, including content, effectiveness, and use of resources. While design is also a consideration, publications entered in the Design categories are evaluated primarily on the basis of design, graphics and layout. You may enter the same publication in as many categories for which it meets eligibility requirements, but each entry requires a separate entry fee.

Note: For online events, do not submit events that were simply live-streamed. While online events may have had an in-person component, the primary focus should have been on the online audience.

Tip: Many articles qualify for entry in more than one category. You can easily copy nomination information from one category to another, but each entry requires its own separate fee. If an entry does not meet the criteria for a category in which it is entered, CASE and the award judges reserve the right to move the entry to a more appropriate category. 

A few tips 
  • Most materials meet the criteria for more than one category. Which one(s) you enter is entirely up to you. (On rare occasions where an entry does not meet the entry requirements for a category, CASE and the judge coordinators will move the entry to the most proper category.)
  • You can submit the same entry for as many categories as it is eligible. (Just note that each entry requires its own entry fee.) 
  • Judges are looking for innovative ideas, impressive and measurable results and outcomes, judicious use of resources, and best practices that other institutions can adapt and implement for their benefit.
  • Check out previous winners in a category to see if your entry is comparable.