Best of CASE District II Award
 

Institution: Peddie School

Title of entry: Peddie Chronicle

About this entry: The Peddie Chronicle strengthens alumni engagement by fostering meaningful connections with The Peddie School. Our stories celebrate the past, highlight the present, and look toward the future, evoking nostalgia while reinforcing Peddie’s ongoing impact. Recognizing that our magazine competes for attention alongside publications from top colleges and universities, we prioritize bold, eye-catching covers and compelling content that resonates with our diverse readership.

In Spring 2024, we spotlighted Peddie Athletics during a period of transition while also tapping into alumni nostalgia. We complemented our athletics coverage with a retrospective on WTPS, Peddie’s 1980s–1990s campus radio station, engaging alumni who once spun records and shared campus news on-air. This multimedia approach included archival WTPS audio, a Spotify playlist of era-defining songs, and a feature that sparked lively alumni conversations.

The results were significant: Our Peddie Athletics feature became one of the most-read online stories of 2024, and alumni from the ’80s and ’90s shared their radio station memories in response to our coverage.

For Fall/Winter 2024, we embraced FUN with our Food Issue. We crowdsourced content from alumni, students and faculty to explore campus food traditions and off-campus favorites. We profiled alumni in the food industry and highlighted how food is woven into Peddie’s curriculum. The beloved “Exploding Chicken” dish, a longtime favorite, took center stage on the cover, accompanied by a stop-motion video on our website. It was a hit — alumni responded with enthusiastic emails and calls, sharing memories that spanned generations.