From the Nominator

"As we returned to an in-person homecoming during our bicentennial celebration, it offered the ideal opportunity to reimagine Widener’s homecoming. We wanted to provide a university-wide experience that truly aimed to celebrate tradition and foster pride amongst students, alumni, families, and all members of the Widener University community. 

To reach this goal, we strategically developed and re-envisioned multiple aspects of our homecoming. By all accounts, it was a tremendous success. This was our highest-attended homecoming in history. Over 3,134 guests attended Homecoming 2021, a 1,082.6% increase from 265 total attendees during Homecoming 2019. Furthermore, over 2,600 guests attended our new Homecoming Tailgate Village, a 1,045% increase compared to the 2019 homecoming tailgate.  

To obtain these successful outcomes, we approached homecoming in multiple ways, including:  

• Developing new, engaging, and meaningful experiences in order to broaden and bolster our alumni engagement efforts. We provided a wide variety of experiences--29 experiences both in-person and virtually--where alumni had the opportunity to connect with their classmates, community, and the university. Our most successful was our new, signature experience, the Homecoming Tailgate Village

• Establishing traditions and opportunities for meaningful community-building to evoke that “We’re All Widener” spirit

• Creating brand new marketing assets, communications strategy, and web presence to boost the initiative’s recognition and visibility

• Focusing on strengthening our relationships with campus partners to increase participation and involvement in the success of this university-wide initiative and facilitate meaningful engagement of their alumni and constituents"

From the Judges

Widener University put together a large-scale homecoming celebration that encompassed not just athletics, but really something for everything. We felt this was a great example of how to pull of a homecoming with maximum impact. And, what we were MOST impressed with were the post-event analytics and reporting. The data that Widener used to support their entry is award worthy in itself!