The first thing you notice in the Communications Office at Williston are the walls lined with awards. In fact, there are so many awards and certificates that the staff may have to take some down to make room for the seven new honors they have been given this year.

On Thursday, January 5^th of this year, the office was given seven awards, which include two gold, four silver, and one bronze. The awards were given out by CASE, or the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. While the awards were given in Division One, which is the East Coast and parts of Canada, Williston now qualifies for the Nationals.

In the past four years, Williston has won 12 awards, and after winning seven more, Ann Hallock, the Director of Communications, is thrilled to bring the grand total up to 19.

The CASE Awards are between independent schools and colleges. In the past Williston publication and advertising has beat out universities like Brown and Tufts. Deerfield Academy, Choate Academy, and Northfield Mount Hermon School were some of the other independent boarding schools to receive prizes, but Williston was the only one that received more than three.

“I like that we compete against colleges for the CASE Awards because it means we know we’re up against much larger competitors,” Hallock said “That motivates us to always stay on our toes and create the best materials we can.”

The office is responsible for publicizing events at Williston across multiple platforms, including print and social media.

Hallock described the appeal of working in the office. “I’ve always loved creative challenges, especially figuring out the best way to communicate things through a combination of words and pictures. That’s what communications is all about.”

Hallock’s hopes for the Communications Office are to “be innovative and help communicate all the great things about Williston. We are working on a lot of new projects right now.”

“Our office is excited to win these awards because each category is judged by a different group of peers from another school or college,” Hallock thinks, “It’s always meaningful when groups you compete against judge your work as being good.”

The awards won by the Communications Office were:

• Gold Medal for The Williston Northampton School Bulletin in the Independent School Magazine category.
• Gold Medal for Take a Closer Look in the Independent School Viewbooks and/or Admission Packages category.
• Silver Medal for Williston Northampton School Ad Campaign in the Advertising Category.
• Silver Medal for Take a Closer Look in the Admission Viewbook Category.
• Silver Medal for The Williston Northampton School 2014-15 Annual Report in the Annual Reports category.
• Silver Medal for Founders Day Fund Week in the Special Events category.
• Bronze Medal for The Founders Day Video in the Video-Fundraising category