Some people dislike award competitions – I was in the same boat, until I began my work in higher ed. Now, I realize that the boat I was previously on was set adrift far from land and without any supplies, not to mention the hole that welcomed water at a fast rate – at least in a university setting.
Truth is, a webmaster (yes, I hate the title) in student affairs has a job that requires many hours well past the standard 40-hour workweek. It also plays second fiddle to many things on campus. While it’s fun and always a challenge (that’s a good thing), it falls somewhere between light bulb changer and wall painter – read: not very valued in the minds of those considered the really big fish on campus.
So what can you do to make the trophy fish look in your direction?
Use really good bait — win awards.
What is the best award to win?
From my experience (please note I’ve only been in the game 5 years) it is without a doubt a medal from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education’s (CASE’s) Circle of Excellence Awards competition.
Why?
Because when you win, CASE sends a letter to your institution’s president congratulating them on the win. It’s like tooting your horn, but from someone else’s car. And, from my experience, it makes your unnoticed work gain more attention, and therefore makes your position in the food chain a little more valuable.
Here’s my “video” abstract I submitted last year. I’m pretty sure that it was never viewed by the judges, but it took some time to create (at home and off the clock). I thought I’d recycle it and create a post around it so that anyone following this blog would know that I haven’t fallen off the edge of the world (I promise to post once a week now that the ice shanty has been removed from the lake, and hopefully in a video blog format, or vlog as I [and others] like to call it).
^^^^^^^^^^
Does higher pay come with that recognition I’m assuming?
Ethan, some things are worth more than money. Short answer = NO.
I have to totally agree with you one two things here.
1. I hate the title Webmaster… it sounds so 20th century! Nobody can possibly be the master of all things related to the web anymore. You need a project manager, graphic designers, web developers, web programmers, analytic professionals, search engine optimizers, social media marketers, pay per click specialists, content writers, videographers, and photographers. Did I miss anything? The idea that one person is the master of all that in 2008 is unrealistic and well sorry nobody is that awesome!
2. CASE awards are definitely the cream of the crop. We’ve won one each of the past two years and there is nothing better than the president coming by the office to congratulate you. CASE is one of the few things that the rest of the institution understands and getting recognized by them says “hey maybe those web people know what they are doing after all”. I think even if we won a Webby Award we wouldn’t get the credit that would deserve.
Great post, Todd! Good stuff here. I am definitely all for awards, just not so keen on all the same people winning each and every year..