The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced that it has awarded a 2016 Circle of Excellence Platinum Award to BYU University Photography Manager Jaren Wilkey for his portfolio of photographs. Wilkey's images competed against the top entries from each of CASE’s eight districts to capture the top award for photography in education.
In the award announcement, the CASE judges wrote: "Jaren Wilkey's portfolio showed great diversity, from action/event documentation to staged portraiture. His images were beautifully crafted, with excellent lighting, compositions and interesting perspectives. The portfolio was seemingly timeless, without reliance on heavy editing or post-processing. The presentation was very professionally done, which made reviewing the images and understanding their context easy. The clear explanations included on the pages added depth and context to the images. Wilkey's overall presentation showed attention to detail and pride in his art."
Click through the slideshow or check out the gallery with more details on Wilkey's winning portfolio.
In recognizing this high honor, Concordia University Irvine's Mike Bergler, who directs the awards competition for the western states division of CASE, said BYU was very deserving of these honors.
"The CASE Circle of Excellence Awards and the CASE Platinum categories both recognize outstanding work from member institutions across the globe," Bergler said. "Recognition at any level in this peer-reviewed awards program is a powerful statement of professional achievement. Jaren Wilkey's Platinum-winning photography portfolio was lauded by the judges with high praise. BYU's Silver Award for General Information Video stood out in a field of 49 entries.
The Silver Award went to Julie Walker and Brian Wilcox, of the University Communications Broadcast team for their video How Origami is Inspiring Scientific Creativity.
In the award announcement, the CASE judges wrote: "The attention to detail in this film was superb, which added another element to the overall story. We loved how they showed the fusion of art and science, old and new in a way to advance discovery and innovation. We love the time-lapse videos of the origami being created. The history of origami was succinct and useful, the voiceover being of someone from Asian decent was beneficial, and it was fascinating to see how current researchers are using this art form to design NASA/space innovations... This video was educational and beautiful and interesting to watch."
Brad Slade, a photographer for BYU Publications and Graphics and the BYU Alumni Magazine, was named as a finalist in the Platinum photography category.
