WKU News

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) recently announced its Best of District III Honors, spotlighting the strongest advancement work from institutions from nine states in the Southeast. These honors celebrate the projects, teams and ideas that rose to the top among peer institutions in the district, reflecting the creativity, innovation and impact happening closest to home. WKU earned three Best of District III Awards.

WKU Division of Communications & Marketing won awards in the following categories:

Communications: Digital Campaign (Student Oriented) – Hilltopper Summer Bucket List

Communications: Communications Initiatives (More Than 25 Staff) – On the Move: The WKU Grad

Videos: Promotional (Short) – Differences Between Graduation Ceremonies

The award-winning pieces were produced by staff in the WKU Division of Communications & Marketing: Mary Bidwell, Manager of Marketing Strategy; Cristina Betz, former Digital Media Content Specialist; Aurelia Spaulding Johnson, Assistant Director for Marketing Communications; Alicia Carter, Assistant Director of Media Relations; and Christopher Cox, Creative Video Content Specialist.

View WKU’s award-winning projects online at the 2026 Best of District III Awards Gallery.

This year, CASE received 288 entries from District III, and WKU is one of 71 institutions from District III to be represented through the Best of District Awards.

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.