CC Magazine wins CASE Award

CC Magazine, Connecticut College’s flagship publication, has won a 2020 Circle of Excellence Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. This is the fourth international CASE award for CC Magazine in the last two years.  

The CASE awards program honors outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing at colleges, universities, independent schools and affiliated nonprofits. 

CC Magazine was awarded bronze in the design category for the cover of the Winter 2019 issue, “Lost In My Life,” which depicts artwork by artist Rachel Perry ’84. 

CASE judges called the cover design “an unexpected, radical illustration style that really draws you in.”

“The packaging (headline and subhead) works to propel readers, as well. The whole thing really sings,” they wrote. 

CC Magazine covers a diverse range of stories which profile the human condition as seen through the members of the College community. It reports on the intellectual, cultural and social life on campus, as well as the impact of alumni in business, politics, art, health, education and social justice around the world. 

“Our visual style is as important as the words we write and the photographs we take. Our goal is to create an object our readers enjoy spending time with—a magazine to compete with all the other devices and media outlets from which our readers consume information,” said CC Magazine Editor and Director of Content Edward Weinman.

“This cover gave us the chance to showcase our whimsy. A fun, colorful, and fantastical image to depict the zaniness of everyday life, as seen by our alumna Rachel Perry, a provocateur who creates art out of the mundane, such as breakfast cereals or voicemail messages.” 

Art Director Ben Parent said, “Sometimes, choosing a good cover means picking a great image, and then staying out its way—keeping type treatments and extraneous graphic elements to a minimum and letting the image speak for itself. Many of Rachel Perry's beautiful images would have made great covers. This one was particularly striking for its unique blend of textures and colors.”

In 2018, CC Magazine was recognized with three CASE awards, including a silver in the Magazine Publishing Improvement category for its 2016 redesign; a gold award in the design category for the cover of the Summer 2017 issue, “Birth of the Cool,” and a silver award in the design category for the Winter 2017 cover, “The Dance.” 

CC Magazine’s Summer 2020 issue is set to hit mailboxes by the end of June.