Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: University of San Francisco

Title of entry: "Hoop Dreams," USF Magazine

About this entry: For the cover of the December 2023 issue of USF Magazine, we found a photograph in the university archives of basketball star Bill Russell in his University of San Francisco uniform to illustrate a feature called "Hoop Dreams" about the storied basketball program at the university. The cover is electric, awash in the school colors of gold and green, including racing stripes that evoke a vintage Sports Illustrated magazine cover. The incredible photo of Russell foreshadows the article inside, in which Russell's coach said, "He could jump — oh, how he could jump." The back of the cover features actual yearbook photos of the national championship basketball team, including Russell, from the 1954 USF yearbook. We felt we gave USF Magazine readers a look at content that no one else has seen. The feedback from readers has been remarkable and extremely positive, including alumni posts of the cover on social media.