The corporate publications of the North-West University (NWU) have excelled in this year’s South African Publication Forum competition.

It is a proud achievement for the university in its pursuit of excellence. In addition to receiving two certificates of excellence, two wins, a runner-up position, and two special mentions, the corporate publications also produced five finalists in four categories.

In this contest the NWU competed against big corporate institutions such as Sanlam, Standard Bank and City of Cape Town. The results of this competition were shared online on 20 November 2024.

The NWU ranked in first place in the Best Cover Design category with the December 2023 edition of its staff newsletter, Life@NWU, and shared top honours in the Interactive Digital Publication category with the alumni magazine, NWU&U, for both the September 2023 and May 2024 editions. The NWU&U September 2023 and May 2024 editions tied as runners-up in the Interactive Digital Publications category.

Both the Life@NWU December 2023 edition and the NWU&U May 2024 edition earned the university certificates of excellence in the Excellence in Design and Excellence in Communication categories respectively.

The NWU&U May 2024 edition, the Research@NWU June 2024 and July 2024 editions, the NWU Integrated Annual Report for 2022 (web-based version), and the NWU Integrated Annual Report for 2022 (digital version) were finalists in their categories. Only publications that achieve an average rating of more than 75% and above receive recognition as finalists.

The Life@NWU  December 2023 edition received two special mentions for Most Improved Publication and Most Improved Publication in Design respectively.

The NWU’s publications have received awards before. They also earned top places last year in the SA Publication Forum competition, bagging a third place in the category for Interactive Digital Publications with Life@NWU. Three editions of Research@NWU  were finalists in the Email Newsletters category. Two editions of Life@NWU, three editions of NWU&U and the NWU’s Integrated Annual Report were finalists in the Interactive Digital Publications category. The NWU's Integrated Annual Report for 2021 was a finalist in the Annual Reports category, and the NWU Profile a finalist in the Corporate Publications category.

It is not only in the SA Publication Forum competition that the NWU’s corporate publications excelled. They also shone in the 2023 Marketing, Advancement and Communication in Education (MACE) Excellence Awards in November last year. During this event the NWU received 17 awards that included one platinum, twelve silver and four bronze awards.  

At the 2023 MACE awards the NWU received a platinum award for its Integrated Annual Report for 2021 as the winner in the Design for Digital Media category. This integrated report also earned the NWU two silver awards for writing. Another ten silver awards were awarded to various editions of the NWU’s staff newsletter, alumni magazine and research newsletter. These publications also scooped five bronze awards.

The 2024 MACE results will be announced during a gala event in Cape Town on 28 November 2024.