Tuesday, June 2, 2020

CLEVELAND – The marketing minds at Central Washington University have been honored for excellence in promoting athletics as the department received five awards in the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) annual “Best Of” awards program.

Central Washington received one gold medal, three silver medals and one bronze medal in the program, designed to recognize excellence in athletics marketing. Awards were presented in 16 categories and divided into three groups based on school size and conference affiliations. Central Washington won awards in Group III, which is generally comprised of non-Division I institutions.

This marks the second straight year that Central Washington has won five awards in the NACMA program.

“It’s a great honor to be recognized by your peers for the work you are doing, said Tyler Unsicker, Central Washington’s associate athletic director of external affairs. “These awards are a true testament to the staff we have on our external team, including director of athletic communications Will McLaughlin, assistant director of athletic communications Caleb Dunlop and marketing graduate assistant Ryan Maley. We look forward to continuing to provide our fans with a great game day experience.”

The gold medal came in the Community Engagement and PR category for an initiative that sent Central Washington football players into the community to welcome Ellensburg elementary schools on September 5. Players in jerseys lined school entrances, welcomed students with high fives and words on encouragement and even rode on buses to ease first-day jitters.

The Wildcats received silver medals for a Multi-Platform Branding Campaign to promote CWU athletics using GIFs and spray chalk on sidewalks, for Sponsorship Activation for its Fresky Fast Delivery with a local Jimmy John’s franchise and in the Static Promotion Ad category for Wallpaper Wednesday posts promoting the school’s homecoming week. The bronze medal recognition came in the Digital Video Segment category for a series of video blogs featuring volleyball player Gabrielle Aihara.

The NACMA “Best Of” awards were selected from nearly 1,000 entries submitted by colleges and universities.