Best of CASE District IV Award
 

Institution: Texas Tech University

Title of entry: Remembering Columbia

About this entry: Issue 3 of Texas Tech's University magazine was lightyears apart from the two previous installments. It focused largely on the emotional story of Texas Tech's connections to the Columbia space shuttle's final mission, which ended in disaster on Feb. 1, 2003, when the shuttle disintegrated on reentry. All seven people aboard were killed, including commander Rick Husband, a Texas Tech alumnus, and pilot Willie McCool, the son of two faculty members. The story was about them and their fellow Red Raiders who stepped up in the aftermath of the disaster to help in whatever way they could – embodying the ideals of grit, integrity, courage and selflessness. We extended that story right onto the cover. It is nearly stark in its whiteness – however, when you touch it, you suddenly recognize the blind emboss weaving a tapestry of hidden tiles across it. A glance at the back reveals that the cover is actually an homage to the Columbia space shuttle. However, this is not the Columbia that exploded. The use of the NASA worm logo, which was discontinued in 1992, and the fact that it reads upward shows that this is Columbia in her prime, sitting on the launch pad ready for her next flight. The result was an emotional tribute before the magazine is even opened, setting the expectations for what lay inside.