2024 Paragon Awards 

You’re a community college communications professional in the 21st century. Translation: You do it all. From building and tracking digital ads to designing bus wraps and campus signs, your creative skills are tested on the daily.

You. Deserve. Serious. Praise.

In a time when creativity has been stretched to the limits, it's more important than ever to take the time to reflect on your relentless pursuit of excellence. Enter your finest. Enter your best. Show the world the inspirational work you and your team have produced this past year.

Entries are now being accepted for NCMPR's prestigious Paragon Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in design and communication at community and technical colleges. It's the only national competition of its kind that honors excellence exclusively among marketing and PR professionals at two-year colleges.

Visit the buttons below for complete details about what to enter, how to enter, category guidelines and judging. Entries must have been published, broadcast, displayed and used between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024.

PARAGON AWARDS INFORMATION

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRIES

NOTE: If you have not submitted entries for the Medallion and/or Paragon Awards before in the Open Water platform, you will need to create an account. NCMPR's member portal is not tied to the Open Water platform. 


QUESTIONS?

Call the national office at (505) 349-0500.

2024 ENTRY DEADLINES

Nov. 20: Early Bird
Dec 2: Regular (and final)
(Entries must be UPLOADED by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time on these dates.)

ENTRY FEES

Members
$50 per entry: Early Bird
$65 per entry: Regular

Non-Members
$100 per entry


ENTRY CATEGORIES  

Entry Category Descriptions 

Paragon Entry Best Practice Tip videos

  1. Transferring over your Medallion entries
  2. What we mean by "photo in use"
  3. When you're submitting a series
  4. When you're entering category 42: Successful DEI Marketing Campaign
  5. When you're entering a video

More Best Practices

  • Submitting a print entry? Because all entries are submitted digtially, it is required to also indclude a photo of the entry in use. See some best practices examples here.
  • Submitting an entry with video? It is highly recommended that any entry submission that includes a video should include closed captioning. 
  • Submitting a campaign entry? Please make sure you combine all elements in a concise summary. See some best practice examples here. 

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