The University of Dayton Quarterly has been named the best alumni tabloid in the country for high quality resulting from an effective use of budget and staff.
UDQ won the only gold medal in the ''periodicals resource management: tabloids and newsletters'' category in the 2007 CASE Circle of Excellence Awards Program. CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) is the largest nonprofit education association in the world. The category recognizes periodicals that ''show evidence of successful and creative management of time, staff and other resources."
Launched in 1992, UDQ is a perennial national award-winning publication. It has now won 19 national CASE awards; in 10 of its 16 years of existence, it has medaled in the category for overall excellence.
UDQ's topics are eclectic -- from a national study on hidden racism to a behind-the-scenes look at Pooch's Posse, a legendary, close-knit group of senior women who competed in 230 intramural games over their UD career as they learned life's lessons on and off the field.
When UDQ's nearly 100,000 readers were polled last year, they responded with high marks for the periodical and dozens of pages of comments.
No staff member in UD's public relations office is dedicated full-time to the periodical, but all contribute. ''This provides a number of voices,'' said Tom Columbus, editor. ''The freelance budget delivers high quality for relatively few dollars. UDQ's art director, through contacts developed through his newspaper days, has a network of artists for whom UDQ provides a different type of creative outlet. Alumni who worked in the public relations office as students contribute work from as far away as Portland, Ore., and Paris, France."
Frank Pauer, art director, designs UDQ. Larry Burgess provides photography, and Matt Dewald, senior publications editor, edits the alumni section. Deborah McCarty Smith directs the publications program.
