Marketers and communicators spend most of their professional energy shining the spotlight on, writing about and promoting their organizations and clients. This spring, however, marketing and communications teams at California State University, Northridge enjoyed a few moments in the spotlight themselves, as a number of higher education associations and other groups recognized their good work.

Early this month, the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts awarded CSUN’s Department of Marketing and Communications five Awards of Distinction at its 2016 Communicator Awards. The international group, made up of more than 600 member organizations and individuals from all 50 states and 15 countries, is dedicated to recognizing “the rapidly evolving nature of traditional and interactive media,” according to its mission statement. The academy works to promote standards of excellence for evaluating media design, production and distribution.

The group awarded Silver Communicator Awards to CSUN in five categories: integrated campaign, for the CSUN Reputation and Visibility Campaign; print advertising, for a Chronicle of Higher Education ad featuring the cancer research of Dr. Jonathan Kelber; online video, for the 2015 CSUN Commencement video; employee publication, for the CSUN Weekly e-newsletter; and brochure, for the Oviatt Library brochure.

In March, the Higher Education Marketing Report honored CSUN with three golds, two silvers and three merit awards in its Educational Advertising Awards competition. The publication also honored CSUN’s Tseng College with three additional awards — one bronze and two merit awards — in the 30th annual competition.

The publication honored CSUN with gold awards in three advertising categories: newspaper single, for its Advancing Cancer Research ad; newspaper series, for the CSUN Reputation and Visibility newspaper ad campaign; and direct mail, for the CSUN Alumni Homegrown direct mail advertising. CSUN earned silver awards in two categories: logo, for the CSUN Logo/Letterhead design; and outdoor, for the CSUN Outdoor Campaign. CSUN’s Tseng College marketing team received a bronze award for the newspaper ad series “Find the business style that fits you.”

The publication also honored CSUN with merit awards in five categories: direct mail, for the Tseng College Fall 2015 Open University mailer; brochure, for the Tseng College Semester at CSUN brochure; special video, for the 2015 CSUN Commencement video; magazine single ad; and magazine ad series.

Last but not least, in February, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recognized CSUN Weekly with a gold award for publications at its CASE District VII Awards of Excellence 2016. One of the world’s largest nonprofit educational associations in terms of institutional membership, CASE serves educational institutions and the advancement professionals who work on their behalf in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and related areas.

In the regional Awards of Excellence, CASE also honored CSUN with a silver award in the fundraising publications category, for the Changing the Face of Business in Los Angeles and Beyond prospectus for the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics — as well as a bronze award in the branding programs category, for the CSUN Reputation and Visibility Campaign.

“I am so proud of the work that the entire marketing and communications team is doing to highlight our faculty, staff, students and alumni,” said Jeff Noblitt, associate vice president for marketing and communications. “Through the leadership of CSUN President Dianne F. Harrison and Vice President for University Advancement Robert Gunsalus, CSUN’s increasing reputation and visibility is adding value to the degrees of our more than 300,000 alumni and raising awareness of the excellence happening in and out of the classroom.”

For their part, Tseng College officials were thrilled with the Higher Education Marketing Report’s recognition of their marketing and communications team at the Educational Advertising Awards.

“It is wonderful to showcase at a national level the variety of CSUN’s campus-based and online educational programs for traditional students, midcareer professionals and international students,” said Jessie Revlin, director of marketing and communications for Tseng College. “We are honored to have our design work be recognized.”