Stellenbosch University (SU) has scooped up various awards at the prestigious annual Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Congress Awards Ceremony held at the D'Aria Wine Estate on Thursday night (24 November 2016).

MACE, a membership-based organisation, fulfils a leadership role in the higher education, TVET, and private education sectors within Southern Africa by adding value to practitioners in marketing, advancement and communication through high-quality development programmes, facilitating networking partnerships and transformation, as well as promoting best practice among these professions at our member institutions.

The awards event formed part of the annual MACE congress, this year hosted by the MACE Board and the Pearson Pearson Institute of Higher Education (Durbanville Campus) – held from 23-25 November.

Themed "Higher Education and Training in crisis? Leading from the front – the new challenge for marketing, advancement, and communication: excellent practice, professional passion, and added value", the MACE Congress brought together marketing, advancement, and communication practitioners from the higher-education sector in South Africa for benchmarking, networking, and professional development.

Stellenbosch University won two Merit Awards, two Excellence Awards, a Gold Award, a Platinum Award and a Special Award – the Carl and Emily Fuchs Business Issue Award. This award is made to an institute of higher education addressing a critical business issue at an organisation that also shows strategic involvement, while presenting an effective, innovative resolution with measurable results. The award was made for photography in 2015 and 2016 to Stefan Els of the Division of Corporate Communication.

The awards are:

• Carl and Emily Fuchs Business Issue Award – Awarded to SU for Annual Photography 2015/2016 (Stefan Els, Corporate Communication Division)
• Platinum Award of Excellence – Awarded in Division 3: Skills in the Category: Photography: Feature and Documentary for Photography 2015/2016 for the Alumni Magazine, Matieland (entered by Stefan Els, Corporate Communication Division)
• Gold Award of Excellence – Awarded in Division 2: Media in the Category Digital: Internal Newsletters – for the SU Faculty of Medicine and Sciences' (FMHS) VIVUS Digital newsletter (entered by the FMHS Marketing & Communications Office)
• Award of Excellence – Awarded in Division 3: Skills in the Category Design: Printed – to the SU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' (FMHS) Annual Publication 2015 (entered by the FMHS Marketing & Communications Office)
• Award of Excellence – Awarded in Division 2: Media in the Category Printed Annual Reports – for Research at Stellenbosch University 2015 (entered by Maryke Hunter- Hüsselmann, Research Development Division)            
• Award of Merit – Awarded in Division 2: Media in the Category Printed Annual Reports for Stellenbosch University Annual Report 2015 (entered by Mattie van der Merwe, Corporate Communication Division)
• Award of Merit – Awarded in Division 2: Media in the Category Printed Internal Newsletters and Other Printed Media - for SU Chairs/Centres of Excellence Pamphlet (entered by Maryke Hunter- Hüsselmann, Research Development Division)            

Commenting on the awards, Els said that it is a great honour to have received recognition for photography. "It was however a team effort to arrange, schedule and brainstorm ideas for photos. I would like to thank each person involved in the creation of these photos and also the unbelievable staff and student of SU that are the faces of the photos. They are the real heroes of SU and I'm just glad that I have the opportunity to capture these history makers."  

Photo supplied by Pixel Place.