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What does it take to become the best of the best?
Welcome back to the Mailbag!
Today we’re talking about one of our favorite topics: Texas Tech University winning awards.
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More specifically, it’s time to hand out some major congratulations to a part of the Office of Communications & Marketing team.
Some of you will have seen a couple of news items earlier this week celebrating some awards won by Evermore, the Texas Tech magazine we’ve written about in this space in the past.
But those news releases weren’t enough for yours truly. No siree, Bob.
Evermore was named the best marketing magazine in the country.
“Best university magazine?” you ask.
Nope. Like Ricky Bobby said, “The best there is.”
Even in the best vision of what this magazine could be when it was started a couple of years ago (and trust me, expectations and standards were very high) the idea of being named the best in the country was a hope and dream for a far-off future.
But now? We’ve come up so much that, to paraphrase the immortal lyrics of Lil Troy’s “Wanna Be a Baller,” it’s like we switched from Motorola to a PrimeCo phone.
The Bronze Anvil – one of the awards Evermore won – isn’t for university publications. It’s the magazine award for all public relations and marketing magazines available for your consumption. Businesses, universities, non-profits, government organizations… whatever you can think of.
And the Bronze Anvil isn’t like a bronze medal. No sir. It’s the gold medal. The cream of the crop. The Rolex-wearin’, plane-flyin’, limo-ridin’, kiss-stealin’, wheelin’ dealin’ son of a gun.
And Evermore won it on the first go-round.
That’s right. Walked right in there with its first three issues (it takes three consecutive issues to be eligible for the Bronze Anvil) and walked right out with a shiny new trophy for the case.
Impressive, right? But if you read the news releases you can already hear Billy Mays saying, “But wait, there’s more.”
On top of being named the best magazine, Evermore took home a PRINT editorial category award.
Some of you are wondering what that means, but no worries, I’m here to explain.
PRINT awards are a global thing. There are 24 categories and 72 winners from more than 1,000 entries, celebrating the very best designs and designers the world has to offer.
Evermore is in that prestigious group of winners, sitting alongside the New York Times and its deep, deep pockets and HUE Magazine, which partnered with an outside firm to redesign its magazine.
Have we mentioned yet that Evermore is done entirely in-house?
I know what you’re thinking: “How in the world did Texas Tech become the best in the business?”
Here’s the answer: We lean on Red Raiders.
Honestly, outside of a few contributors here and there, Evermore is as Texas Tech a publication as you could possibly find. Not only does the magazine tell the stories of this university; the writers, editors, illustrators, designers and photographers almost all graduated from Texas Tech. They were trained here by some of the best faculty in the world.
We already know that From Here, It’s PossibleTM. Writers, editors, designers and photographers from Texas Tech have been stars at award-winning publications for decades.
But we’ve managed to keep some of the best for ourselves.
The editor of Evermore? Red Raider Glenys Young.
Evermore creative lead? Red Raider Armando Godinez.
Evermore’s head of photography? Red Raider Ashley Rodgers.
The stories? All about Red Raiders. Our history, lore and contributions to the world.
True, none of this happens without Vice President of Communications & Marketing Matt Dewey, who has been a driving force behind Evermore and graduated from a school up north where they shot a movie about Samwise Gamgee playing football.
But even great talent needs a good voice from the outside from time to time.
Hopefully, this is all preaching to the choir. If things work as they should, our loyal readers are Red Raiders through and through, who are already aware of Evermore and looking forward to the next issue.
If not, what are you waiting for? Sign up to receive Evermore here and get on board, it’s always an amazing ride.
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