WKU News

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recently named the recipients of its 2026 Circle of Excellence Award winners. This global recognition celebrates outstanding work in educational advancement from institutions around the world.

WKU Communications and Marketing was honored with a Gold Award for the category of Communications: Digital Campaign (Student-Oriented) for the Hilltopper Summer Bucket List. The 2025 campaign shared happenings of the University while also promoting opportunities for students and followers to engage wherever they spent their summer months. 

The judges noted that the project was “clean, simple and can be replicated across institutions.” WKU was given credit for “understanding their target audience and meeting their students where they are!”

View WKU’s award-winning project online at the 2026 Circle of Excellence Award Winners.

Recognized as the premier accolades for educational advancement, the Circle of Excellence Awards celebrate colleges, universities and schools whose advancement teams demonstrate exceptional ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness. Through inspiring projects and programs, these institutions strengthen educational communities and help transform lives around the world.

In 2026, teams from 628 institutions in 33 countries submitted 4,185 entries for consideration. The program’s 93 award categories span the full breadth of advancement, including magazines and publications, fundraising campaigns, alumni initiatives, special events, marketing, leadership, video and more.

Volunteer judges from CASE’s membership selected 493 exemplary entries for bronze, silver, gold and grand gold recognition. Winning entries were chosen for overall quality, innovation, effective use of resources, and measurable impact on their institutions and communities, including alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff.

This year, entries were considered for both global recognition and regional or district recognition. CASE will announce the Best of Regions/Districts later in 2026.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is the global nonprofit association dedicated to educational advancement—alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and advancement services—and championing education to transform lives and society. CASE’s membership includes more than 3,000 colleges, universities and independent elementary and secondary schools in more than 80 countries, making CASE one of the largest nonprofit education associations in the world in terms of institutional membership. CASE serves more than 90,000 advancement professionals at member institutions and has offices in London, U.K.; Mexico City, Mexico; Singapore; and Washington, D.C. The association produces content, publications, conferences, institutes and workshops that support educational leaders and advancement professionals in their work to advance education through serving their institutions. To learn more about CASE visit www.case.org.

-WKU-

Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, WKU helps students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.