Midterm Matters Awards

Midterm Matters, the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication National Agenda 2018 program, received awards in three categories of the Delaware Press Association's 2019 Professional Communications Contest. The annual contest, which is open to all professional communicators in print and electronic broadcasting fields in Delaware, encourages and rewards excellence in communication.

Midterm Matters Podcast―In a partnership with the CPC, Delaware Public Media News Director Tom Byrne hosted the five-episode Midterm Matters podcast series as part of the CPC's National Agenda program. From March to August 2018, Byrne met with CPC Associate Director and National Agenda Director Lindsay Hoffman and other University of Delaware political experts to discuss national and local issues emerging with the upcoming midterm elections. The podcast went on to compete in the National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), where it earned an Honorable Mention.

Delaware Debates 2018 (U.S. Senate)―On October 17, 2018, candidate Rob Arlett challenged three-term incumbent Tom Carper in a debate that took place inside the University of Delaware's Mitchell Hall. The joint initiative of the University of Delaware and Delaware Public Media was live-streamed and broadcast live nationally on C-SPAN and in some regional media outlets. Read the CPC's news story to learn more about Delaware Debates 2018.

Midterm Matters―Lukas Emory, Digital Graphic Designer with UD's College of Arts & Sciences, worked with the CPC team (Nancy Karibjanian, Lindsay Hoffman and Stephanie Doroba) to design the Midterm Matters logo. To express the importance of the upcoming midterm elections, Emory used the words "Midterm Matters" to visually support the U.S. Capitol Dome. The Democratic and Republican congressional seats were represented by red and blue dots arranged according to the traditional congressional seating plan as a rainbow shape that connected all of the elements. The CPC used the logo in a variety of digital and print media to communicate the theme that voter and civic engagement is important in the midterm elections.