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For the first time in the alumni magazine’s history, the UT Journal of The University of Tampa has won two international 2021 Circle of Excellence awards from CASE (the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education).

One award was a silver for design for the Fall 2020 issue’s cover, Drawn Into a New Reality, which was illustrated by freelancer Mark Smith and depicts the feelings the UT community were experiencing during the initial months of the pandemic. It strikes a tone that’s not too dark and depressing, but also not overly cheerful — a serious, simple and sophisticated tone that matched the moment.

About that cover, the CASE judges wrote: “The illustration is great, both in concept and in execution, and we loved the way the cover line and the illustration worked together to be greater than the sum of their parts. Deciding to make the now-familiar coronavirus so that it was made up of “science” was inspired, and the way the formulas began before it and extended after it made the metaphor even more powerful, and gave the illustration a richness that worked really well. Cover text is beautifully balanced.”

The other award was a silver for writing for an eight-page feature in the Winter 2021 issue called “Getting Out the Vote” by freelancer Jessica Blatt Press. It covers the major, campus-wide, nonpartisan effort that was undertaken at UT to get students registered to vote and to the polls by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge Coalition made up of students, staff, faculty, alumni and a member of the county’s Supervisor of Elections office.

About that article, the judges wrote: “Excellent take on the topic of the day: voting. Well-researched and edited. Good work walking a tight line here on a sensitive subject today.”

The UT Journal is put together by UT staffers Eric Cardenas, director of the Office of Public Information and Publications; Jane Bianchi, writer/editor; Erin Dixon, art director; and freelance contributors. The print magazine is published three times a year (spring, fall and winter), and articles can also be read on the UT Journal’s website . If you don’t currently get the UT Journal, you can update your address here.