UPCEA’s Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Success (MESS) Network sponsors annual competitions for UPCEA members at the MEMS: Marketing, Enrollment Management, and Student Success conference. The 2025 MEMS awards program recognizes Excellence in Marketing, Enrollment Management, and Advancing Student Success.
We invite UPCEA members to submit their outstanding:
The top award recipients will be recognized in an interactive panel at the conference, providing insights into strategic thinking and best practices.
We look forward to reviewing your submissions,
Awards Subcommittee, 2025 MEMS Planning Committee
The Excellence in Marketing Award recognizes marketing campaigns that excel in creativity, execution, and impact. Regardless of institution size or budget, the award focuses on outstanding and effective marketing in the higher education field based upon overall creativity, messaging, results achieved by the campaign, and level of design. Campaigns must be completed between 2023 - 2025 from UPCEA member institutions and may be developed and executed in-house or in partnership with an outside agency.
Criteria:
Nominee (person/unit) must be an institutional member of UPCEA. Corporate members are expected to submit in conjunction with an institutional member. Click here to check your institution’s membership status.
Campaigns must be completed in 2023 – 2025. Nominations previously entered will not be considered.
The Nomination should clearly state the campaigns targeted audience, title and description, goals and objectives, examples of marketing materials, learning outcomes and results.
The campaign was executed intentionally and effectively to reach the intended audience, and can demonstrate positive impact(s) on the intended audience
Ability to be innovative with the design of the campaign, and to creatively engage a specific audience
Creativity based on resources
Nominations Particularly Sought:
Tied to enrollment growth, student support, and success
Campaign-supported institutional goals
Took a risk in putting forward a novel or new approach to a marketing campaign
Nomination Procedure:
Complete the nomination form (opens June 10, 2024; deadline to submit nomination July 11, 2024).
Include among the supporting documents the following:
Narrative statement that describes the campaign purpose, marketing elements, the goal, and impact (250-300 words max)
Supporting Materials (not to exceed six items) This is any kind of branded element and material used to promote a brand, product or service, such as video, broadcast, digital or print materials, student stories, etc.
If submitting materials such as video, broadcast, website, please upload a separate document and provide a URL for judging that will remain live through December 2025. No password required, please.
Enrollment management is central to the success of online and professional education units. In the last 40 years, enrollment management has evolved from a theoretical concept in undergraduate education to a highly sophisticated framework for attracting, retaining, and graduating students. The UPCEA Excellence in Enrollment Management Award recognizes an outstanding online and professional continuing education organization (unit or individual) that models best practices and combines process excellence with superior results. This award is affiliated with the UPCEA Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Success Network.
Criteria:
The nominee (person/unit) must be an institutional member of UPCEA. Corporate members are expected to submit in conjunction with an institutional member. Click here to check your institution’s membership status.
The nominee must provide concrete examples of:
Application of tactics for enrollment goals. (ex. student support, retention, etc.)
Flexibility and implementation of new strategies to maintain or grow enrollments
Taking a student-centered approach in alignment with enrollment goals
Creativity based on resources
Nominations are particularly sought which can demonstrate:
Alignment with the Institution’s strategic vision
An aim to widen participation and access to higher education or professional development
Nomination Procedure:
Complete nomination form (opens June 16, 2025; deadline July 18, 2025).
Include a narrative statement and up to six supporting materials (testimonials, data, financial impact).
UPCEA recognizes student success is paramount to the mission of every institution of higher education. Online and professional education units realize they must provide strategic and cross-functional projects, initiatives, and services that maximize success of the adult or non-traditional student. To that end, UPCEA aims to play an active role in preparing members for advancing the success of students in both credit and non-credit programs by acknowledging best practices and initiatives that “move the needle” in the advancement of student success.
This award is aligned with the Marketing, Enrollment, and Student Success Network which engages members in actively building the competencies, skills, and confidences needed to attract and retain students in a changing and competitive marketplace. The award recognizes an institution that has implemented a successful strategic initiative, project, or service that has resulted in significantly advancing the success of adult and/or non-traditional student audiences.
Criteria:
The nominated unit must exhibit a contribution to furthering best practices of adult learner student success. Note: institutional units may self-nominate.
The nominated unit must demonstrate the initiative was successful in advancing student achievement through innovative, creative, and sustainable measures.
Evidence of student success should include quantitative, as well as qualitative measures, if available, such as the impact upon retention and persistence, student engagement or connection to the university, increasing student opportunities, or program completion.
Included in the nomination should be:
Description of the initiative identifying the institutional unit
Statement explaining the goal of the initiative and how objectives were met
Summary of the initiative’s evaluations.
Development of the initiative, project, or service should be as recent as possible while still allowing for evidence of sustainability and success of reaching target goal(s). The nominated institution must be an UPCEA member.
Institutional and corporate members may submit nominations for this award.
Nomination Procedure:
Complete nomination form (opens June 16, 2025; deadline July 18, 2025).
Substantiate why the institutional unit warrants nomination for the award in advancing student success by addressing the award criteria noted above in a narrative statement of no more than five pages.