From the Nominator

"This special digital-only edition of UofTMed magazine was the kickoff to a year-long University of Toronto campaign celebrating 100 years of health innovation since the Nobel prize-winning discovery of insulin by faculty member Frederick Banting and colleagues in 1921. We knew the well-documented historical story would form the backbone for the university-wide campaign website (insulin100.utoronto.ca), so the UofTMed team set out to explore more contemporary themes for our audience of biomedical faculty, alumni, and donors. 

Led by our in-house editor, graphic designer, and digital lead, we commissioned a series of articles--with staff contributing to multimedia and shorter content--aiming to show the ripple effect of the Banting discovery. Built with a customized Wordpress template, the magazine was shared via Mailchimp with 39,000 recipients, logging an open rate of 27 percent. The magazine site itself has attracted 8,000 page views. 

On social, the multimedia piece, A Patient's Point of View, performed the strongest with >20,000 impressions on Twitter. Six Instagram stories drawn from magazine content drew 10,000 views. 

The university’s main news site republished the Insulin magazine content, and the issue was featured on a university-wide Insulin100 campaign website, which drew an average of 80,000 views monthly throughout 2021. 

Advancement colleagues credit the digital magazine as a valuable tool in engaging Danish insulin manufacturer Novo Nordisk, illustrating the breadth of diabetes-related research taking place currently at U of T. The company subsequently donated $20 million to establish a healthy populations research network at U of T."

From the Judges

The collection of articles had a big impact on all of the judges. The cover draws you in and makes you want to read on. One of the best digital magazines we have ever seen.