Communicator of the Month Award

Communicator of the Month Award

The University of Kansas benefits from a network of communications and marketing professionals embedded in units across our campuses. These talented individuals are crucial to KU’s mission of education, service and research, and they are deserving of recognition among their peers.

With this in mind, the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Public Affairs will present the Communicator of the Month Award each month to a single KU communicator for excellence in communications and marketing.

Anyone in a communications and marketing role at KU is eligible to be nominated.

The nomination process is now open … so submit your nomination today.

Eligibility

Anyone in a communications and marketing role at KU is eligible to be nominated. This includes but is not limited to public relations practitioners, marketers, content developers, strategists, designers, photographers, videographers, social media managers, project managers and event planners.

Nominees' work can be in external communications, internal communications, communications-related operations and/or communications-related technology development.

Criteria

The primary criteria is excellence as defined by a thoughtful and well-executed plan, strategy, tactic or campaign that successfully conveyed a message to, or compelled action from, relevant stakeholders.

Nominees may be nominated for a specific communications and marketing-related activity, campaign or tactic or for a broader body of work over a longer period of time.

Beyond excellence, successful nominations may demonstrate any of the following attributes:

• Learning and sharing — a communicator who has learned lessons or techniques in the process of creating excellent communications and shared these learnings with colleagues.
• Strategic action — a communicator who has taken action on the university’s strategic plan and can demonstrate impact through leading indicators or directly to the metrics of the plan.
• Collaboration — a communicator who created and led an activity with and across multiple KU units.
• Facilitation — a communicator who is essential to the success of KU and other communicators but may not be in a forward-facing role or whose work product is not highly visible.
• Brand stewardship — a communicator who has adjusted or adopted unit/department initiatives to advance or align with broader university marketing and communications goals.
• Innovation — a communicator who has demonstrated creative, novel marketing and communications strategies.
• Efficiency — a communicator who has found ways to do more with less or enhance efficiency though communications and marketing.
   

Nomination and selection process

Individuals may self-nominate or be nominated by others familiar with their work.

Nominations should include the following:

• A written summary/justification of why the nominee should be considered for the award.
• Any supporting documentation or work product to help showcase the nominee’s work.
• At least one letter of recommendation from a colleague within the nominee’s unit or from another KU communications practitioner.

Nominations are due by the last day of each month. The winner will be announced during the first half of each month.

Nominations should be submitted to publicaffairs@ku.edu. 

Nominees will be evaluated by a panel of judges selected by the Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Public Affairs. The Vice Chancellor will make the final determination.

History and purpose

The Communicator of the Month Award program was launched in November 2023 by Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Karla Leeper. 

In addition to showcasing the importance of communications and marketing at KU, the Communicator of the Month Award fits into the university’s larger strategies to:

• showcase employee excellence as recommended in the 2022 COACHE survey
• elevate the university's mission to educate leaders, build healthy communities and make discoveries that change the world
• fulfill the Lawrence campus' vision to "be an exceptional learning community that lifts each member and advances society" and KU Medical Center's vision to "improve lives and communities in Kansas through innovation in education, research, and health care."