Tufts Communications Team Celebrated for Award-Winning Narratives

Tufts University Communications and Marketing (UCM) has received two Best of District I Awards for 2025 from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

The Tufts Now feature "When a Teammate Saves Your Life," produced by Deputy Editorial Director Julie Flaherty, was recognized in the award category of Communications/Storytelling. This piece tells the story of a group of alums who joined together to honor with a naming gift at the university's new baseball field a classmate who had saved the life of a fellow alumnus and former teammate. The resulting narrative was so moving that Flaherty opted to produce it as an audio story to best capture the emotions involved. That audio appears on Tufts Now, along with an excerpted interview and photos by Senior Multimedia Producer Anna Miller.

The Tufts Now feature "College in Prison Changed Them. Now They Want to Change Minds" was recognized in the category of Writing/News and Features (1,000+ Words). Many college-in-prison programs exist across the country. But while other universities offer incarcerated individuals a continuing education degree (or a degree through a partnering state school, or a separate degree created just for incarcerated people), Tufts had recently committed to offering bachelor's degrees that are identical to those it awards traditional students.

This feature, also by Flaherty, celebrated the first graduating class from the university's bachelor's degree program by going to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Concord to hear from current students and recent graduates about how the program, known as TUPIT (Tufts University Prison Initiative), has changed them in profound ways.

The feature on the Prison Initiative also appeared in the Fall 2024 edition of Tufts Magazine, with photos by Alonso Nichols, chief of photography.

"I am excited that CASE has recognized Julie, Anna, and Alonso for their compelling storytelling. The honor is certainly well deserved," said Mike Rodman, vice president of University Communications and Marketing. "Alongside their UCM colleagues, they aim to show the world how Tufts students, faculty, staff, and alumni are making a positive impact every day. It's a privilege to work with them."

CASE is a leading global nonprofit association dedicated to the professional development of individuals in the fields of alumni relations, communications, marketing, and development. CASE District I includes universities, colleges, and schools across New England and the eastern Canadian provinces.