The GIA Awards for Excellence Competition is an annual, peer-reviewed competition that recognizes outstanding work by members of the Group on Institutional Advancement (GIA) and their staff. The awards honor the most creative and effective approaches used to promote academic medicine through alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and public affairs programs and projects.
The 2026 GIA Awards for Excellence Competition will open in August.
Interested in Submitting Your Work?
We want to recognize the outstanding work you’ve produced to help advance your institution to greatness. You’ve been responding to challenging times and, at the same time, creating innovative campaigns, writing articles, organizing alumni and community events, revamping your digital presence, and, most important, demonstrating the value of your institution to your community. Now is the time to show off your work and be recognized!
2025 GIA Awards for Excellence Winners
Best in Show
- dêtetsi vo'i oninjakan Winding Path; University of Utah Health System
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives
- Gold: Advancing the Story of Maternal Health Equity, University of Pennsylvania Health System
- Gold: "More than a Haircut" Feature Story, UC San Diego School of Medicine
- Silver: Reflecting on UCSF’s Anti-Oppression Curriculum Initiative, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
- Bronze: Challenging Norms: Uplifting Anti-Racist Work to Transform the Landscape of Medical Education, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Electronic Communications
Audio and Video
- Gold: dêtetsi vo'i oninjakan Winding Path, University of Utah Health System
Social Media
- Silver: Cancer Questions with Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Silver: Insta-Impact: Amplifying Student Engagement by Nearly 200% through Video and UGC Strategies, Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University
- Bronze: A Foos in Medicine Collaboration, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Print and Digital Publishing
Single or Special Issue
- Gold: Beacon of Hope, University of Utah Health
- Silver: Pathways (UBC Magazine), Climate Change Issue, University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine
- Bronze: AI Explodes - Stanford Medicine Magazine, Stanford University School of Medicine
External Audience
- Gold: Dana-Farber's Impact Magazine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
- Silver: Penn Medicine Magazine, University of Pennsylvania Health System
- Bronze: UAB Medicine Magazine Fall 2023 Issue, UAB Heersink School of Medicine
Internal Audience
- Gold: Unifying Voice: Empowering Internal Communications with Branded Workspaces, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- Silver: Physician/APP Update Newsletter, UC San Diego Health
Special Events, Projects, Programs, or Campaigns
- Gold: Templafy Internal Communications Plan, University of Pennsylvania Health System
- Gold: UT Southwestern Heart Health Night with the Dallas Mavericks, UT Southwestern Medical Center
- Silver: LSU Health Sciences Foundation -- An Evening for Healers 2023, Louisiana State University School of Medicine in Shreveport
- Silver: University of Michigan Medical School Communications Community of Practice, Michigan Medicine
- Bronze: Burnett School of Medicine at TCU Match Day 2024, Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at TCU
The Robert G. Fenley Writing Awards
Basic Science Staff Writing
- Gold: “Why we value things more when they cost us more” by Bruce Goldman, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Bronze: “A new branch of oncology, cancer neuroscience, offers hope for hard-to-treat brain tumors” by Erin Digitale, Stanford University School of Medicine
General Staff Writing
- Gold: “And yet, there’s hope” by Hanae Armitage, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Gold: “Let’s talk about it” by Mark Conley, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Silver: “Brain Trust” by Michelle Koidin Jaffee, University of Florida College of Medicine
- Bronze: “Could anesthesia-induced dreams wipe away trauma?” by Nina Bai, Stanford University
- Bronze: “Uncovering ‘the basis of humanity’ one puzzle at a time” by Kristina Sauerwein, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine
Solicited Articles
- Gold: "Amara Yad" by Dan Gordon, U Magazine, UCLA Health
- Gold: “An Act of Love” by Adela Wu, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Silver: “For the Love of Mothers”, University of Utah Health
- Silver: “Who’s training whom” by Jonathan Chen, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Bronze: “A journey from hoops all-star to research legend: Dr. Robert Gallo’s next stop is Tampa Bay” by Dave Scheiber, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine
- Bronze: “Studying Endometrial Cancer in Black Women” by Rachel Tompa, PhD, University of Miami Health System
News Releases
- Gold: “Why young kids rarely get very sick from COVID-19” by Bruce Goldman, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Silver: “Why women are at greater risk of autoimmunity” by Bruce Goldman, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Bronze: “Protecting baseball pitching arms about more than just pitch count” by Bill Levesque, UF Health
The “Shoestring” Award
- Gold: LCME Campaign, VCU School of Medicine
- Silver: “Reimagining the Tiny Mic: Tiny Mic Trivia”, Stanford University School of Medicine
- Bronze: “Caring For the Athlete in Everyone” – A Sports Medicine Career Guide, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
2025 Honorable Mention Winners
2025 GIA Awards for Excellence Judges