Last chance to enter the Maroon & Gold Awards

Remember that awards entries are due by noon on Thursday, March 21. We know that you are doing great work, and we want to recognize you for it!

We particularly would like to see more entries for use of the Driven to Discover campaign theme, "Discovery illuminates everyone". Read about the categories and judging criteria.

Won't your boss be pleased when you tell her that you've won an award? By the way, you can invite her (or him) to the awards ceremony at our fabulous member appreciation party on May 29 at the Weisman Art Museum. 

Don't forget, entering is free. Learn more and enter.

--Ann Nordby, co-chair, awards committee

Stay creative

Just a nice video to help you think of ways to stay creative...

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

The Economist and the Oxford Comma

I greatly enjoyed all of the clever grammar oriented memes and messages over social media yesterday, but this really tickled my fancy.  Enjoy!  The Oxford Comma: Is a Comma Grammar

Social media: More work or play?

Naming Winter Storms

As a native Minnesotan, I was irked beyond reason when The Weather Channel started naming winter storms. The practice came to my attention when the so-called Winter Storm Caesar was approaching Minnesota in December.

What the what?!! Remember the Halloween Blizzard of '91? The Armistice Day Blizzard of '40-something? (OK, we weren't there, but we've heard of it, over and over.) The thing is, Minnesotans know that winter storms must EARN their names, not be assigned them in some marketing scheme by East Coast weather elites.

Which leads me to this blog post's real topic, the idea that social media can save lives. Well, that's what The Weather Company (parent of The Weather Channel) is claiming. In an Adweek article, Weather CEO David Kenny claims that they named storms so that people would start tweeting and posting about them on social media, thus raising awareness and saving lives.

Kenny
cited the nearly 800 million photos and tweets that "Nemo" generated
over 5 day period as proof positive that the naming system worked to
raise awareness and served to consolidate the torrent of storm-related
social media data. - See more at:
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/weather-channel-thinks-facebook-and-twitter-save-lives-147540#sthash.3FnaXZWx.dpuf

Kenny claimed the almost 800 million photos and tweets that "Nemo" (good lord) generated over five days when it slammed the east coast was proof of his claim.

What do you think? Does naming something encourage social engagement about it? What could we name here at the U to encourage social engagement? Please share your thoughts! And heaven help us if Winter Storm Yogi should approach the northern plains.

Kenny
cited the nearly 800 million photos and tweets that "Nemo" generated
over 5 day period as proof positive that the naming system worked to
raise awareness and served to consolidate the torrent of storm-related
social media data. - See more at:
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/weather-channel-thinks-facebook-and-twitter-save-lives-147540#sthash.3FnaXZWx.dpuf

Do You Code?

I ran across Code.orgs latest YouTube entry featuring the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and will.i.am. (among others) who discuss the importance of coding. Calling it the new human "superpower" - the video states that 90% of schools in the United States do not teach this basic skill. 

It seems as though the industry would go to any length to retain top talent by making "the most awesome environment" for their employees. This includes full service dining centers, rooftop lounges and onsite dry cleaning (leading me to think I've chosen the wrong career path!). 

Were you taught code in school? Do you consider it a basic skill when entering today's work force?

And the winner is ...

Have you produced good work in the past year? Of course you have, and you should be recognized for it in front of your peers! Start picking out your best work of the past year to enter in the 2013 Maroon and Gold Awards. The submission period is March 1-21.

Entering is free, and there are 22 categories all told for print, web, campaign, writing and more. See all the categories, past winners and details on the UMCF website.

This year we will give a new award for best use of the "Illuminate" Driven to Discover campaign theme. Also new this year, the "people's choice" MIKE award is going fully digital. Once submissions are in you will be able to see all the entries and vote for them online.

All the winners will be revealed and winning entries displayed at our fabulous Member Appreciation Party on May 29 at the Weisman Art Museum. (Along with mulling your MAG awards entries, you should start selecting your +1 now.) Watch for an e-mail on March 1 with complete instructions for entering.

Here are some tips for entering (and winning) a MAG award:

• You can't win if you don't enter. And people who win a lot of awards have usually entered multiple times in multiple categories.


• If you produced anything using the D2D Illuminate campaign, be sure to enter it. One of this year's MAG judges is from Olson, the agency that created the campaign.


• Crying when you receive an award is completely optional.

--Ann Nordby, awards committee co-chair