From the Nominator

"At the heart of our publication and our institutional brand is the idea of collision—of people, ideas, cultures, passions—within our University of Manitoba community to create positive change. When the pandemic hit, UM Today The Magazine switched from two print issues a year to online-only, leveraging an opportunity to reallocate resources to improving our digital presence and readership. It was also a chance to better align efforts to help chart a new path for digital storytelling for the university. 

While successful, we also recognized a need to continue to engage in a meaningful way with alumni for whom we weren’t yet reaching digitally. As the university’s premier publication, the magazine is a key tool to engage alumni and donors. We therefore launched our first print issue in two years, introducing a new look and approach: an annual collection of our best storytelling, previously published online and re-imagined in hardcopy format. 

We achieved our goals of successfully reinforcing the foundational tenant of the UM brand story (collision)/sharing stories that speak to UM strategic priorities—excellence in research, scholarly and creative works; Indigenous achievement; and community engagement/connecting with our alumni print audience post-pandemic, reengaging with them through rich storytelling and leveraging our print issue to further grow our digital readership and engagement. 

Analytics showed a 32% increase in traffic to our magazine site. The average readership on our stories published in 2022 was roughly 12 minutes, indicating they are reading from start to finish."

From the Judges

The magazine features art that is modern and creative, and the overall design has a nice touch of minimalism. The highly informational inside front cover was effective.