Carleton College Voice earns silver Circle of Excellence award for 2025

The 2024 issues of the Carleton College Voice have been awarded a silver Circle of Excellence award for 2025 from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in the category of “Magazines | Alumni/General Interest (Printed Three+ a Year).”

The Carleton College Voice aims to tell “the Carleton story of now,” and 2024’s three issues did exactly that, connecting alumni with news on campus, the issues the College and its faculty wrestle with, and the work its graduates are doing to make an impact in their communities. Some were synched with trending news — the advent of artificial intelligence and the academic considerations around it at Carleton, one alum’s successful effort to legalize adult-use recreational marijuana in Minnesota, the challenge faced by alumni journalists working at outlets like NPR and Politico in covering a contentious election in times of historic public distrust of the media — while others updated readers on the lives of classmates: a retired bank executive reflecting on the all-Black student dance group she founded 50 years ago, the president of a tribal college speaking on the challenges and successes at his new school, a popular Hmong memoirist looking into TRIO, the program for low-income and first-generation students that helped her thrive at Carleton two decades ago. These issues aim to capture Carleton’s animating spirit and the values so many of its graduates share even years after leaving Northfield.

The CASE judges described the Voice as “one of our favorites”:

The design was excellent and the graphic elements stood out. We felt these pieces “really broke away from the public relations machine” and told stories that were bold, fun, and in some cases truly brave, and even sometimes risky — but oh so important. The writing was sharp, excellent, and often laugh-out-loud funny. A good read rendered beautifully.