The Jule received awards for technology work, publication design.
Auburn, AL — The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University is pleased to announce they are a recipient of the 2025 Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) Silver Award in Virtual Media for its “Be Curious” Student Awareness Campaign, a Silver Award in Media Production for the Auburn Award: Binh Danh video, and first and second place in the Publications category for its Auburn Award booklet and 2024 Year in Review, respectively.
The SEMC Technology Competition recognizes excellence in the use of technology within Southeastern museums and celebrates the accomplishments of innovative work. As technology continues to gain importance throughout the museum field, expectations and standards were exceptionally high for this year’s applications. The SEMC Technology Competition received a record number of applications from a wide variety of museums across the Southeast. Winning entries were expected to demonstrate innovative, effective design, accessibility, creativity and recognition of institutional identity. Recipients of the awards were judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in fields of digital media and technology
The Jule’s “Be Curious” Student Awareness Campaign was a multi-channel campaign aimed at increasing awareness of the museum within the Auburn University student population. Museum staff created short-form videos and graphics, among other elements such as merchandise development, leveraging the university art collection and marrying the museum’s brand identity with that of its home institution, leading up to The Jule’s annual student event, Night at the Museum. The campaign proved to be a success, as student attendance of the event increased beyond staff expectations.
As The Jule looks to expand its awareness among students, it also aims to raise its national profile as a place of artistic inquiry and academic rigor. The William Collins Smith Auburn Award for Advancing American Art, established in 2024, honors an American artist or scholar-practitioner who has had a significant impact on the American art scene in the spirit of the university’s modernist collection strength, grounded in creativity, innovation and experimentation. Funded by a transformational gift from the Julia and Albert Smith Foundation, the award also honors the legacy of advisory board chair emeritus William Collins Smith, whose support significantly advanced his mother’s vision of a campus art museum that contributes to an exceptional student experience. The recipient visits Auburn to engage with students, faculty and the community as part of a residency. Binh Danh, whose work is currently on display at The Jule, was the inaugural recipient of the WCS Auburn Award, and the video accompanied his campus residency.
The SEMC Publication Design Competition showcases the best in our profession and provides benchmarks for regional publication efforts in southeastern museums. Museum publications can play a vital role in an institution’s educational mission, documenting exhibitions and collections through high-quality design and production and showcasing the depth of scholarship. Expectations and standards were exceptionally high for this year’s applicants. The 2025 SEMC Publication Design Competition received a record-breaking number of applications from a wide variety of museums across the southeast. The SEMC Publication Design Competition recognizes and rewards excellence in graphic design in Southeastern museum publications. The competition encourages communication, effective design, creativity and pride in work, and recognition of institutional image and identity. Recipients of the awards were judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in graphic design.
Eleanor Hickman, a student guide at The Jule, presents to SEMC conference attendees.
As part of the presentation of the WCS Auburn Award, Jule staff developed a booklet highlighting Danh’s work as a photographer, showcasing the extraordinary innovation he brings to the field through creative leaps such as chlorophyll prints. The 2024 Year in Review, The Jule’s equivalent of an annual report, summarizes the impactful work done at the museum and beyond for the calendar year.
“We’re honored to be recognized by our peers in the Southeastern Museums Conference,” said Cindi Malinick, The Jule’s executive director. “Recognition in these areas demonstrates the museum’s role in raising the university’s profile in both student experience and academic rigor.”
Christy Barlow, The Jule’s assistant director of education, engagement and learning, presents at SEMC.
Jule staff and students presented at this year’s SEMC conference in Montgomery. Assistant Director of Education, Engagement and Learning, Christy Barlow, co-led a session, “Education Programming as a Catalyst for Exhibitions,” discussing the forthcoming exhibition Sew Their Names based on The Jule’s Museum in Motion outreach initiative. Eleanor Hickman, a student guide at The Jule, also presented at a Student Work in Museums Poster Session on developing art education programming around popular culture phenomena such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
Award winners were recognized at the 2025 Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon on October 22, 2025 and will be showcased in the Winter 2025 Edition of INSIDE SEMC, a digital publication of the Southeastern Museums Conference. This designation recognizes The Jule’s contribution to professional standards in Southeastern museums.
Watch the award-winning 2024 William Collins Smith Auburn Award video:
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About The Jule
Located at a nationally ranked land-grant institution committed to interdisciplinary research and an elevated student experience, The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University advances meaningful creative scholarship, outreach and education through the study and stewardship of art objects. Since 2003, the museum has cared for the over 3,000 objects that comprise the university art collection, grounded in American modernism and spanning the 17th to 21st centuries. With regularly changing exhibitions, artist residencies and scholarly forums, The Jule champions art and cultural inquiry across disciplines to instill lifelong learning, improve relationships and cultural understanding, and inspire curiosity and well-being. Admission is free. Visit jcsm.auburn.edu for more information.
About the Southeastern Museums Conference:
The Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC), a nonprofit membership organization, is an association of museums, museum staff, independent professionals and corporate partners. We focus on the Southeastern United States including: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands.
SEMC works to:
- Provide educational and professional development opportunities
- Improve the interchange of ideas and information
- Encourage respect and collegiality
The Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) is dedicated to providing a safe, inclusive, and welcoming conference experience for everyone. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment in any form.
For more information about the Southeastern Museums Conference, visit https://www.semcdirect.net/.
