Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University has been honored with a national Merit Award for The Ouachita Circle in the 26^th annual Educational Advertising Awards.

The annual recognition, sponsored by the Higher Education Marketing Report, is the largest educational advertising awards competition in the nation. This year, more than 2,500 entries were received from more than 1,000 colleges, universities and secondary schools from all 50 states and several nations.

The Ouachita Circle, the university’s 12,000-circulation alumni magazine, previously has been honored on the state and national levels by the Arkansas chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators and by Baptist Communicators Association. The university also recently was named among the Top 100 Social Media Colleges by StudentAdvisor.com.

“As we seek to provide news and information of interest to alumni and other friends of Ouachita through the pages of The Ouachita Circle, we are extremely pleased to be recognized by professional communication organizations for those efforts,” said Trennis Henderson, vice president for communications.

“Our goal is to produce a quality publication that reflects Ouachita’s commitment to excellence,” Henderson added. “This latest recognition affirms that we remain on track in fulfilling that goal for the benefit of our readers.”

The 2011 Merit Award is based on The Circle’s 2010 spring, summer and fall issues, which highlighted the themes of faithfulness, creativity and tradition. Major articles focused on such topics as Ouachita’s named academic schools, alumni volunteer relief efforts in Haiti, 2010 alumna Alyse Eady being named Miss Arkansas, the dedication of Heflin Plaza and the university’s inaugural Stepping Up for Ouachita luncheon.

Judges for the Educational Advertising Awards included a national panel of higher education marketers, advertising creative directors, marketing and advertising professionals and the editorial board of Higher Education Marketing Report. Among schools honored with Best of Show awards in this year’s competition were Emory University, Purdue University, the University of Missouri and the University of Notre Dame.

Ouachita Baptist University, a private Christian university in Arkadelphia, Ark., currently enrolls 1,500 students from more than 30 states and 40 nations. Celebrating its 125^th anniversary as a leading liberal arts university, Ouachita has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 Regional College in the South for four consecutive years.