July 07, 2021

Alumni magazine wins high honors

Gold Circle of Excellence Award is a first for Andover magazine

Andover magazine, the flagship publication of the Phillips Academy and Abbot Academy community, has been named one of the nation’s top independent school magazines for 2021, garnering a Circle of Excellence Gold Award as well as being named a finalist for the Robert Sibley Magazine of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Andover magazine was recognized out of a field of 530 college, university, and independent school magazines from across the country. The CASE Circle of Excellence honor is the first major award for the Academy’s 114-year-old publication.

In bestowing the gold in the Independent School Magazine category, CASE judges said the magazine showcased “some of the best Andover has to offer,” with content in the spring 2020 issue featuring a cover story on justice and a newly redesigned fall/winter 2020 issue introducing the Academy’s 16th head of school, Raynard S. Kington, MD, PhD, P’24.

Andover magazine’s justice issue emerged as a natural outgrowth of the Academy’s 2019–2020 academic theme and featured alumni, student, and faculty problem solvers and solution seekers who are breaking down barriers and transforming lives in data and privacy, rights and law, arts and education, and faith and community on campus and around the world.

The striking cover illustration was created by alumna Ming Doyle ’03, a comic artist whose work changes the narrative on gender, race, and identity.

The fall/winter 2020 issue presented an in-depth profile of Andover’s new head of school and unveiled a full magazine redesign, with revised content architecture, new sections, a vibrant approach to color, photography, and design, and a more strategic approach to content that matters to alumni (i.e., Andover history, alumni profiles, students today, issues of equity and inclusion, and campus news).

This issue’s secondary feature, “Reality Check,” provided a timely look at the many facets of fake news and its impact on our society, culture, and democracy.

CASE is the professional organization for advancement professionals in alumni relations, communications, and development. Its awards program annually honors outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising, and marketing at colleges, universities, independent schools, and affiliated nonprofits.

“This year’s CASE Circle of Excellence Awards highlight the creative, nimble, and innovative approaches our members bring to championing the success of their institutions,” said CASE President and CEO Sue Cunningham. “Advancing education has never been more important, and the Circle of Excellence Awards celebrate the innovative work that has contributed to that vital societal outcome. This year, CASE member schools, colleges, and universities across the CASE global membership were faced with challenges that have never been seen before, and advancement professionals demonstrated their skills and sensitivity as they created inspiring and important work to engage their communities in entirely new ways.”

Categories: Alumni, Magazine

Other Stories

Carroll R. Bogert ’79, William A. Ellis III ’80, and Vanessa B. Kerry ’95
Three earn 2024 Alumni Award of Distinction

The annual award honors alumni for making “positive impact on diverse peoples and places, society, and world”

Midyear momentum

How annual donors are driving the Andover student experience this year