NIU’s Office of Publications and Printing was recently the recipient of several national awards.

The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), a national higher education support group, gave the publications office three awards.

Under CASE’s public relations communication category, NIU received a silver award for their new Partnership Prospectus.

“The Partnership Prospectus was a piece we did for NIU’s Office of Development,” said Michael Malone, director of publications and printing.

“It intends to show them (major corporation executives and business leaders) that NIU can be a valuable partner by recruiting student interns, promoting cooperative education programs, etcetera,” he said.

“It looks different than most newsletters,” Malone said. “It’s a big sheet, and it’s not an 8uu by 11 and it’s not three-fold.

“The more different the style, the more likely a person is to read it. It uses large bold type that attracts a lot of people’s attention,” he said.

Malone said CASE is the major organization of people who work in fundraising, alumni, public relations and publications in universities and colleges across the United States and Canada.

NIU’s first poster for Unity Through Diversity Week, which was designed by Malone, received a silver award, and student designer Sean Sant Amour won a bronze for his theater poster.

A gold award was given to the CASE District Five (Great Lakes) newsletter, edited by Malone.

In addition, Linda Mitchell, a typesetter at NIU for almost 17 years, was given two awards by the National Composition Association during the 17th Annual Typographic Excellence Awards competition.

She received a best of category award in tabular material and a merit award in brochures for the Partnership Prospectus.

“This is the first time NIU submitted material in the typesetting division to this association,” Mitchell said. “The organization is made up of universities, typesetting houses, and printers.

“They judge on the complexity of the job and how the typesetting looks.”

Mitchell said NIU has an in-house printing service located in Altgeld Hall.

Shey Lowman, associate director of publications, production/typesetting, said publications cover the design and editorial aspect of their office, and printing includes typesetting and pre-press (shooting negatives and assembling them into flats).

“NIU has an offset press, and the printshop makes their own metal plates for offset printing,” Lowman said.

“They also have a booklet-maker, and a complete bindary, which includes coallators and folders.”

The Northern Illinois Advertising Council awarded NIU with their annual Raddie award, for excellence in print and media advertising and promotion. The Raddie, which is the top award of its category, went to NIU’s Partnership Prospectus.