The ACUHO-I Marketing Awards recognize the creative and vital work done to communicate campus housing programs and initiatives. Established in 2016, these awards acknowledge all ACUHO-I members and their departments for their accomplishments and creativity. Submissions for the 2024 ACUHO-I Marketing Awards will be accepted April 1-May 31. The work submitted should have been completed between July 1, 2023-May 31, 2024. Winners will be recognized during the Business Operations Conference in Bethesda, Maryland, in October.

Click here to view last year’s award recipients.

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CLOSED

Marketing Awards Submissions

Marketing Awards submissions are now closed for this cycle. Winners will be announced at the Business Operations Conference (October 28-31, 2024) in Bethesda, Maryland.

Categories for this year’s competition include:

  • Logo/Mark/Icon
  • Large-Format Printed Piece
  • Interactive Marketing
  • Video
  • Website
  • Posters
  • Brochure/Booklet
  • Specialty/Other
  • Specialty/Promotional Item 
  • Email Marketing 
  • Social Media 
  • Handout (Printed)
  • Overall Campaign

MARKETING AWARDS SUBMISSIONS

Eligibility Rules & Requirements

  • Any ACUHO-I member in good standing is eligible to submit entries.
  • Submissions must have been used/implemented during the designated timeframe to be eligible.
  • Submissions must have been produced in-house by the housing department and/or the University marketing team (no agency work allowed), be original work, and be owned by the department/university.
  • There is no limit to the number of categories an organization can enter; however, each organization is only allowed two entries per category. 
  • Submissions will be accepted from any unit division (conferences services, dining, etc.) falling under the housing department’s organizational structure.
  • Submissions need to be specific to College/University Housing and Dining and or Dining Services.
  • All entries must conform to applicable copyright laws.
  • Work that was submitted or that is similar in design (layout, artwork, etc.) to work submitted in previous years cannot be submitted this year and is not eligible to compete.
  • Entries must be entered in the appropriate category. The awards committee may choose to accept and reclassify any entry submitted into an inappropriate category.
  • If submitting to the ‘Overall Campaign’ category, individual components of the campaign cannot be submitted as standalone pieces to other categories.
  • Submissions from organizations with a public-private partnership agreement (P3) are required to submit pieces that are related to a specific building/unit or program/initiative. Company-wide marketing/branding efforts will not be considered.
  • Submissions that are created, designed, and/or developed by an outside agency and/or vendor will not be considered.

Submitting an Entry 

  • Due to the large file size of submissions, content cannot be directly uploaded into the awards  submission portal. Instead, submissions must first be “hosted” or stored via a public web based storage solution (i.e. stored on a website or using a platform like Drop Box, Google  Drive, etc.) to create a URL for your submission. Enter the URL in the appropriate section of the submission form.
  • Please double check to make sure that your submission links are working before submitting your entry. Use one link for all submissions.

Judging the Entries & Announcement of Winners 

  • Nationwide marketing and communications practitioners outside our current university housing  community judge entries based on their individual merit using a scoring matrix. As a result, all  ACUHO-I members are eligible to submit entries, including members of the ACUHO-I  Marketing Awards committee.  
  • First and runner up awards will be awarded based on the scoring matrix and exceeding a minimum score. From the first-place winners, a Best of Show award will be selected.  
  • Judging will be conducted in accordance with the guidelines found here. 
  • Submissions will be judged based upon the following criteria: graphic design, copy/messaging,  creative & usability. 
  • Decisions of Judges are final.  
  • Winners will be announced at the annual ACUHO-I Business Operations Conference. Winners  need not be present to win. 

Disclaimer 

  • Entering this contest means you give ACUHO-I the right to use your submission for  educational and advertising purposes. You may only submit items that you have full rights to publish. ACUHO-I may not return your submission once it is entered. ACUHO-I might  disqualify you if it is discovered you tampered with the entry process. Late, lost or misdirected entries are not the responsibility of ACUHO-I. The contest may be cancelled or modified by ACUHO-I. Finally, ACUHO-I bears no responsibility for liability related to participating in the contest.

All ACUHO-I members are invited to submit their work. Not a marketer by day (or job title)? All ACUHO-I members are invited to submit! If you are part of a team that’s helped make marketing magic happen this year, we want to see it. 

Interested in serving as Marketing Awards Judge? Here are a couple of quick things to know before you commit:

  • Judging will take place June 3-28.
  • Must have a strong marketing knowledge and/or background.
  • Judges can expect to review at least two different categories and must provide feedback about their scores for each submission.
  • Judge’s comments may be provided to submitters following the announcement of awards in October.
  • Judges are omitted from judging any category their institution has submitted to.

Please contact Ali Santander at asantander@arizona.edu if you are interested in serving as a judge this summer!