Last year’s EXCEL Gold Extra! award went to The American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery for their Implicit Bias Video Series. They created 10 videos exploring examples of implicit bias. Written by practicing physicians, each video depicts an inappropriate interaction and then corrects it. The videos are “generously supported” by many sponsors.
In a video called How to Avoid Implicit Bias When Treating Older Patients, a doctor speaking to an 85 year-old woman and her daughter, assumes the older woman cannot handle any decisions and speaks over her to her daughter. It draws confusion and ill feelings. A second scene shows the doctor giving the patient much more respect with a far better outcome.
The high number of sponsors for the AAO-HNS videos shows that companies want to get behind initiatives that have positive impact.
Submitting your exceptional work for the 2023 EXCEL Awards—the Final Deadline has just been extended to Wednesday, March 8!—is a great way to earn much-deserved respect and appreciation. But it’s also a wonderful way to get the word out to others so they can benefit from your ideas—especially other members. Submitting a nomination can take as short as 15 minutes.
(Video is a category that could use more entries, along with Direct Mail; Social Media Presence; Newsletter Design, Redesign and Editorial Excellence; Blog Site; Websites; and DEI Initiatives.)
Here are more replicable ideas from the 2022 EXCEL winners (click here to enter 2023):
Develop videos to complement your publication. The Society of Actuaries’ Actuary Magazine website won a Gold EXCEL Award. The site features a section of Member Videos, where it’s impressive to watch Nikita Sabade talk about the “skill sets that I’ve found to be most important for actuaries on the job… make themselves vulnerable, communicate effectively with each other, listen actively to each other, and also be empathetic to how others are feeling.” Rolande Mbatchou (pictured) speaks about her journey from Cameroon to Paris to Chicago and the diversity she now sees in the field.
Build your audience with a special week. American Health Law Association’s Health Law Week won a Bronze EXCEL award for Best New Innovation. Many of the sessions and events for that week are open to the entire health law community free of charge. More events can be added throughout the year, so trending topics can be covered. AHLA sells $500, $1,000 and $2,000 sponsorships for Health Law Week—and a sponsorship page lists seven sponsors for 2022.
Highlight an underserved community. “This past May I earned my doctorate in physics, becoming the first Black woman to do so at Yale University. …Approximately 100 Black women have received a PhD in a physics-related field in the U.S…” Thus begins an essay from Brooke Russell on the Diversity and Inclusion site of Physics World, co-published with Physics Today as part of the American Institute of Physics’ #BlackInPhysics Week. The essay series won Gold for D&I Initiative Microsite. “#BlackInPhysics is a week dedicated not only to celebrating Black physicists and our contributions to the scientific community, but also to reveal a more complete picture of what a physicist looks like.”
How We PTA – encouraging change. In Best Pandemic Response Campaign, the National PTA did a storytelling campaign using “PTA” as a verb. “Learn How We PTA. Find inspiration from PTAs nationwide who have positively affected their communities with these stories of change that originated at the PTA with leaders just like you. Click a category below for stories about the power of the PTA… There’s no wrong way to PTA. However you do it, it’s all an investment in your child.” The positive message resonates strongly.
Find new stories. Anything Is Possible, a feature story from the National School Boards Association, won a Bronze EXCEL in Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives. “Aldine Independent School District’s Carver High School (Texas) offers award-winning programs in visual arts, vocal and instrumental music, dance, and theatre, giving its students—many of whom live in poverty—a safe environment to discover and be themselves.” The article included a series of moving photos. “We say it all the time: Your ZIP code is not your destiny,” says Aldine Superintendent LaTonya Goffney. “We want to make sure our students have the same opportunities and exposure to the arts as anyone, anywhere. They deserve it, and they benefit from it.”
Create a marketing guide. How to Sell Your Science: The Art of Science Communication, a special guide from ACS’s Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN)—a winner of a 2022 Gold EXCEL Award for Best New Innovation—attracted 408 subscribers from 49 countries in just the first two weeks. The writers are all science communication influencers “that represent the diversity of our audience, and the tone is personal and inspiring through the anecdotes and advice they share.” The guide was part of four email-courses that generated significant revenue in advertiser underwriting, allowing C&EN’s sales team to price and sell branded versions. Even the sign-up page has a thank you ad for funding support.
