Best of CASE District VI Award
 

Institution: Washington University in St. Louis

Title of entry: Celebrating Match Day: Together Again

About this entry: Packed with energy and emotion, Match Day is the annual date when medical students across the US learn which specialties and medical centers they matched to for residency training. For Washington University School of Medicine, it's a day to celebrate graduating students whose hard work culminates in their match. It also is a day to welcome new members to our community: medical students from across the country who just learned they will spend the next several years of their training in residency at WashU.

These groups -- graduating students and incoming residents -- are key audiences of our coverage. We also strive to capture the excitement for the family, friends, faculty and staff who supported students along the way. And finally, Match Day is an incredible opportunity to connect with prospective students. As a defining moment for future doctors, this event shows prospectives how they would be supported, celebrated and successful as students at WashU Med.

To maximize the day’s powerful emotions, we focus on visual content, students telling their own stories, and viral-worthy releases on social media. A pod of six staff within the medical school’s marketing and communications team collaborated with clinical departments, the career counseling office and colleagues in our university marcomm office to understand messaging for incoming residents, identify graduating students to highlight, and amplify our content to new audiences.

The result included a smashing TikTok debut with 2.3M views, uptake of user-generated content across social platforms, and excitement from within and beyond our community.