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.

Submit Marketing Awards Materials

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!