"UMass Magazine is for the entire university community—alumni, but also students, faculty, and staff. Some of our goals for 2022 included inviting more alumni participation with interactive stories.
In the fall of 2022, we asked our readers to share their selfies with our beloved chancellor on social media with a hashtag that was linked to our site. Our plan is to create an online site for those to live and for people to share more of their digital memories with us. Our favorites will be highlighted in the next issue.
We have found that these interactive stories engage members of our community and create opportunities to participate in the magazine that goes beyond our class notes section. This interactive feature has built upon the momentum we've gained over the past several issues, where we have invited readers to take a quiz (in the spring issue) and use their online presence to connect. Since we started this initiative, we've not only received hundreds of responses to our prompts, but we've also seen a jump in the number of alumni reaching out to us for other reasons—with feedback, story pitches, and address updates. We are excited to see what this new area brings next!"
From the Judges
UMass Magazine was engaging and enjoyable to flip through. It's also noteworthy that the magazine targeted the entire university community, which can lead to a wider range of readers and a more diverse audience. It did an excellent job of engaging its readers and showcasing a variety of interesting features.
