The Nov. 6, 2015, event was hosted by Winthrop and sponsored by MSNBC with the S.C.
Democratic Party. The event, along with a midday visit by Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul as part of
U.S. Sen. Tim Scott's Town Hall tour, was a political extravaganza for the campus
and the Rock Hill community.
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA - Winthrop University captured the top award for special events at the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III conference
for its First in the South Democratic Presidential Candidate Forum.
The Nov. 6, 2015, event was hosted by Winthrop and sponsored by MSNBC with the S.C. Democratic Party. The event, along with a midday visit by Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul as part of U.S. Sen. Tim Scott's Town Hall tour, was a political extravaganza for the campus and the Rock Hill community.
Winthrop was in the news constantly in the days leading up to the Nov. 6 forum moderated
by Rachael Maddow and attended by candidates Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley. On the day of the event, Sen. Paul was interviewed by Chris Matthews on MSNBC's Hardball, which was televised from a stage built in front of Byrnes Auditorium.
Winthrop's CASE nomination outlined the extensive efforts by a campus committee to handle logistics, facilities,
social media, communications, traffic, etc.
The day's many events were captured in a video.
"Winthrop put together a great team from all parts of campus who made the First in
the South Democratic Forum such a success and put the university in the national and
international spotlight," said Jeff Perez, vice president for university relations. "I deeply thank everyone who contributed,
including our friends from Rock Hill and York County who supported our efforts."
The CASE special events category judging coordinator said Winthrop won the Grand Award
against 30 other entries because of the uniqueness of the event. She also cited the tremendous amount of work
and coordination that went into the event.
The Grand Award was presented Feb. 7 in Nashville, Tennessee, during the CASE District III annual conference.
During the awards presentations, Winthrop also earned an Award of Excellence in the Magazine II category for the Fall 2015 edition of the Winthrop Magazine.
For more information, contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at 803/323-2404 or e-mail her at longshawj@winthrop.edu.
