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2007 Maroon & Gold Awards

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Awards Judges

Judges for the Maroon & Gold Awards are chosen each year after a new Awards Committee is formed.

Five judges are invited for their expertise in particular areas, as well as general knowledge of successful communications for a nonprofit, post secondary institution of our size and status. In an all-day event, entries are evaluated in two rounds: elimination and final. During the first round, judges work independently to score entries in the four categories. Those with the lowest scores are eliminated.

During the final round, the judges collaborate and deliberate before agreeing on the winning entries. They are free to change their minds about an entry, based on any new information that another judge might provide for consideration. The judges' scoring and commentary are confidential and not made available to entrants or anyone outside the Forum's Awards Committee.

2007 Maroon & Gold Awards Judges

Debbie Boyles, Assistant Director, eCommunications, Minnesota Private College Council, Fund and Research Foundation
Debbie Boyles has been at the Minnesota Private College Council (MPCC) for nearly two years after spending 12 years as communications coordinator in the U's College of Human Ecology. At MPCC, she has overseen a Web site re-design and creation and launch of the LearnmoreMN Web site to call attention to a looming higher education crisis in Minnesota. She also played a lead role in developing a new and improved e-advocacy program and e-newsletter. While in Human Ecology, Debbie led the implementation of a college-wide Web re-design using FileNET and managed the college newsletter and alumni magazine.

Chuck Haga, Reporter, Star Tribune
Chuck Haga has been a reporter for the Star Tribune since 1987. His assignments have included the Red River flood of 1997, the Rice Lake, WI, hunter shootings, the abduction and killing of Dru Sjodin and the capital murder trial of Alfonso Rodriguez, and the Red Lake High School shootings. Prior to the Star Tribune, he worked as a reporter, columnist, and editor at the Grand Forks Herald. He has taught reporting and news writing at the University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State University, and for press associations in several states.

Jeff Johnson, Spunk Design Machine
Jeff Johnson, founder of Spunk Design Machine, has traveled the world trying to promote new design techniques and new models for pushing pop culture to the next level. Spunk has manufactured and sold two educational products for kids (Talking Tools™ and Puffilines™), and it also designs fonts and does outstanding custom product design. The firm has won local, national, and international awards for its creative solutions for clients including Target Stores, General Mills, Best Buy, Medtronic, and CNN Worldwide. Prior to founding Spunk in 1998, Jeff was senior designer for Designworks in New Zealand and Australia for one year. Before working abroad, he was design director for Duffy Design and Fallon Worldwide, where he designed such pop icons as Frutopia™, Diet Coke™, and Miller Time™. Some of this work is in the Permanent Collection of 20th Century American Design in the Smithsonian Institute. Jeff was born and raised in North Dakota and attended art school in Moorhead, MN.

Kristi McKinney, Graduate Student/Teaching Assistant, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Minnesota
Kristi McKinney is currently pursuing a master’s degree in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota and expects to graduate in the summer of 2007. She primarily researches the Russian media, but has interests in new media and globalization as well. Kristi received her B.A. in communication and English from the University of North Dakota in 2005. Kristi hopes to continue with a career in research or teaching after she finishes her M.A.

Cheryl Stone, Director of Communications, AIGA Minnesota; Vice President, Public Relations, U.S. Bank/FAF Advisors, Inc.
Cheryl Stone serves as vice president of public relations for U.S. Bank's asset-management subsidiary, FAF Advisors, Inc., and for the bank's proprietary mutual fund family, First American Funds. She has also served as the founding editor-in-chief of Egypt's first English business magazine, Business Monthly, and first personal-computer magazine, Computer User Egypt. She has taught at the American University in Cairo, the University of Minnesota, and the University of St. Thomas.

Cheryl is a graduate of the University of Minnesota with a master's degree in journalism and mass communication and a bachelor's degree in communication studies. She also holds an APR certification and is on the board of directors of AIGA Minnesota, the professional association for design.