Texas A&M AgriLife communications team wins 23 national awards

The Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications team won 23 awards at the annual Association for Communication Excellence, ACE, conference June 16-18 in Milwaukee.

This year’s annual conference was co-chaired by Shelby Dittman, Texas A&M AgriLife social media coordinator and incoming ACE Social Media Learning Community chair.

“This marketing and communications team has aggressively sought to show the Texas A&M AgriLife brand as authentically as possible,” said Katherine Hancock, assistant vice chancellor for marketing and communications for Texas A&M AgriLife. “We are fine-tuning our skills and teamwork, and it has been paying off.

“We’re proud to help position Texas A&M AgriLife as a national model,” Hancock said. “I’m so proud of this team.”

Branded as “Driven by science, communicating for change,” ACE comprises communications professionals working for educational, governmental and research organizations to extend knowledge about agriculture, natural resources, and life and human sciences.

The ACE community sponsors a yearly critique and awards program for educational and promotional products created by the nation’s land-grant universities. The awards program provides professional critiques and recognizes those who have done an outstanding job.

ACE Fellow

The association’s highest recognition, the ACE Fellow Award, was presented to Kay Ledbetter, communications manager with the Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications team.

The award recognizes sustained excellence and professionalism in a communicator. Recipients are role models in ACE who have had an enduring impact on the organization, their institution, the national land-grant system, and/or the profession or discipline of agricultural communications. 

Ledbetter has 40-plus years in journalism, including 23 years of newspaper experience. She joined Texas A&M AgriLife in 2005 as a writer at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Amarillo.

Ledbetter was also elected to serve as the incoming vice president of ACE’s Board of Directors. For the past 20 years, she has served ACE as a conference co-chair, a leader and a volunteer on multiple committees. She is a past winner of ACE’s Media Relations Award of Excellence and Writing Award of Excellence.

​​ACE critique and award program winners

In 2025, the Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications team won 22 awards in the ACE Critique and Awards competition.

Crisis and Issues Communications:

• SILVER – Texas Panhandle Wildfire Communications – Laura Muntean, media relations coordinator; Blair Fannin, communications and media relations manager; Ledbetter; Dittman; Courtney Sacco, creative manager-multimedia; Sam Craft, associate director-visual media and web strategy; Mary Leigh Meyer, associate director, communications; and Hancock.

Education Technology and Design

• Website: SILVER – AgriLife Today Website Redesign – Elisabeth Button, assistant director, web experience; Shelby Schiller, web and information designer; Meyer; and Hancock.

Electronic Media, Video and Audio

• Profile Videos: SILVER – Road to Casper Profile Series – Sacco, Craft; Katie Perkins, videographer.

Graphic Design

• Design: SILVER – The Holiday Gift Box Howdy Puzzle – Mohamed Chenkhloufi, creative manager-brands and graphics.
• Advertisement: GOLD – The Gardens Bandana – Campbell Woerz, graphic designer I; BRONZE – Football Ticket Pocket Folder – Chenkhloufi.
• Illustration: SILVER – The Gardens Field and Nature Journal – Woerz.
• Posters: GOLD – Road to Casper – Chenkhloufi; SILVER – Egg to Chick – Woerz.

Marketing

• Communications Campaign with a budget of $0-1,000: BRONZE – Agricultural Economics Awareness Campaign-McAllen Center – Grant May, senior manager-content marketing; Brooke McDonald, communications specialist II; Button; Lorenz Meyer, marketing manager.

Media Relations

• Campaign: SILVER – Texas Panhandle Wildfire Communications Response – Fannin, Muntean, Ledbetter, Dittman, Meyer, Hancock, Craft and Sacco.

Photography

Outstanding Professional Skill – Texas Winter Garden Farmer – Craft.

• Feature photo: GOLD – Pre-ride Rodeo feature – Sacco; SILVER – Smokehouse Creek Fire: On the Line – Craft.
• Environmental portrait or personality photo: GOLD – Texas Winter Garden Farmer – Craft; BRONZE – 46 Years of HORT 201 – Michael Miller, multimedia project specialist.
• Picture story: GOLD – Team – A Champion Mindset with the Texas Aggie Rodeo – Sacco and Miller
• Enhanced photo: GOLD – Rodeo Studio Portrait –Sacco; BRONZE – Sandburs macro – Miller.

Publishing

• Promotional Publications: GOLD – Road to Casper Postcard – Chenkhloufi.

Social Media

• Social Media: GOLD – Celebrating Retiring Professor – Dittman.

Writing

• Writing for newspapers: SILVER – From Turfgrass to Touchdowns – Mamie Hertel, communications specialist III.