From the Nominator

"Cal Poly Magazine is the flagship publication of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., a nationally-ranked public university focused on hands-on learning experiences. Our core philosophy is Learn by Doing. 

In developing the magazine, we focused on telling innovative, unique stories through outstanding photography, appealing design, and a robust, user-friendly, and mobile-optimized website. We publish three issues online per year, two of which typically also have a companion print edition. The magazine's overall goal is to act as a brand-building piece for the university—to foster deeper connections across the university community and more deeply connect our audiences with those three brand pillars of the Learn by Doing ethos, a lifelong sense of readiness, and our California impact.

Our biggest stories of the past year have been a photo essay documenting the joyful return of students to campus after a year-and-a-half of COVID-induced virtual learning; a conversation with philosophy faculty helping to guide the global discussion on the ethics of new technology; a series of interviews with campus thought leaders on how pandemic adaptations may shape society for years to come; and a profile on groundbreaking alumni astronaut Victor Glover.  

Analytics show that we are connecting with a broad Cal Poly audience of thousands. Our readership stayed strong over the course of the pandemic. Our last issue of 2021 received nearly 40,000 page views."

From the Judges

Cal Poly Magazine Online utilizes its budget with many internal resources. The nomination summary presented an overarching vision that was thoughtful, nuanced, and strategically spot on. The resulting product delivers against all objectives. The digital space is well organized, and the user interface was the highest rated. Great diversity in content and clear accessibility for information