Pitt-Bradford receives seven national higher ed advertising awards

Pitt-Bradford has received seven national higher education advertising awards -- including four gold awards -- for ads, postcards, billboards, admissions brochures, and its alumni magazine.

Pitt-Bradford received the awards in the 34th Annual Educational Advertising Awards program sponsored by the Higher Education Marketing Report. More than 1,000 colleges, universities and secondary schools in all 50 states and several foreign countries submitted more than 2,200 entries.

Pitt-Bradford received gold awards for magazine advertising series, newspaper advertising series, radio advertising series, and direct mail for postcards inviting prospective students to open houses.

The university was a silver award winner in the outdoor advertising category for three billboards that were displayed in the region. Pitt-Bradford also received two bronze awards. The first was awarded in the external publication category for Portraits magazine, the university's flagship biannual publication that is sent to alumni, donors and friends. The second bronze came in the total recruitment package category, which included many of the materials admissions counselors use to recruit new students.

“What makes these pieces so special is that they all tell the stories of our successful students and alumni,” said Pat Frantz Cercone, executive director of communications and marketing.

The award-winning entries showcase many students and alumni, including Samantha Vaccaro, a business management major from Bradford who studied in Japan; Ali Rinfrette, a 2018 graduate from Bradford and Austin Parent, a sport and recreation management major from Gilbert, Ariz., who were named All-American athletes; and alumni Zach Hadfield, an ER nurse at UPMC Mercy, and Clayton Johnson, a uniformed division officer with the U.S. Secret Service assigned to the White House.

“It's also important to note that these award-winning pieces were developed by many talented, hard-working, dedicated people, including designers, photographers, writers and editors,” Cercone added.

Mark Zampogna, a 1988 Pitt-Bradford alumnus and owner of Laser Layouts of Bradford, designed the award-winning newspaper and magazine ads. John Sizing of JS Publication Design in Wellesley, Mass., created the other award-winning submissions.

Entries for the Educational Advertising Awards program, which is the oldest advertising awards competition in the country, were judged by higher education marketers, advertising creative directors, marketing and advertising professionals, and the editorial board of Higher Education Marketing Report.

Earlier this year, Pitt-Bradford received four national advertising awards from the Collegiate Advertising Awards program for some of these same pieces.