AUSTIN, Texas -- MSU Moorhead and its award-winning GO! TEAM has added another honor to its growing collection as the department has earned the College Sports Communicators (CSC) ChangeMaker Innovation Award. 

This is the fourth year for this CSC award, recognizing individual members or departments who have created and managed innovative content during the current academic year. The purpose is to recognize forward-thinkers who bring new ideas to life — and strengthen the position of sports communicators and creatives and their work — with special content, a branding and messaging campaign, new storyteller packages, social media initiatives, a digital series and other initiatives.

The department gathered the award thanks to its #PlayForHer campaign in conjunction with National Girls & Women's In Sports Day. MSUM's #PlayforHer campaign centered around highlighting and empowering all women in sports throughout Dragon athletics: female student-athletes, coaches, athletic staffers and administrators. 
 
The content team collaborated closely with the coaching staffs and student-athletes across all sports, both male and female, to promote #PlayforHer with a major video and graphics package (video can be viewed above). The content team produced an overarching video featuring interviews from head athletic trainer Andy Scott, head women's basketball coach Karla Nelson and student-athletes Demi-Lee Carlisle, Shaelyn Johnson and Evey Evans. Each of them explained how women's athletics has evolved at MSUM and how the growth of women's sports has impacted them, and their sport. This video used archive footage from 1990 juxtaposed with current shots of female athletes to show the growth of women's athletics at MSUM. A teaser video was also created and posted across social media prior to celebrating NGWSD.
 
"Prior to content development, a survey was sent to all females in the MSUM athletics department, asking questions about what it means to be a woman in sports", noted video production coordinator EJ Hennen, who submitted the entry. "We used the survey responses to create photo and quote graphics that were posted on our department social media accounts as well as each of our individual team accounts across all platforms (Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook) in 1x1 orientation.
 
"This campaign showed innovation and depth by including content from every one of our teams, department members, and our media team," Hennen stated. "We did not want to leave any stone unturned. Rather than just post something from each of our women's team accounts, we included our men's teams as well in content creation and amplification to show that NGWSD isn't something celebrated only by women's teams."

More on MSUM's ChangeMaker Innovation Award entry: 

Minnesota State University Moorhead: National Girls and Women in Sports Day #PlayforHer campaign   
Submitted by: Elizabeth Hennen, former MSUM GO! TEAM Video Production Manager

Campaign lead project coordinators and developers: Elizabeth Hennen, former MSUM GO! TEAM Video Production Manager; Nolan Schmidt - Assistant Athletic Director for Media and Public Relations; Jon Wepking - Associate Athletic Director for External Relations
 
Additional project participants who were the social media team leads for the sports listed: Morgan Bachelor - Women's Basketball; Codi Bunting - Swimming & Diving;  Dustin Eichten – Football; Charmaine Haas - Cross Country/Track & Field; Becca Hanson - Men's Basketball and Volleyball; Abinfoluwa Iwayemi – Softball; Aidan Kampsen – Dance; Tara Larsen - Women's Soccer; Brenda Mendes - Swimming & Diving and Tennis; Avery Nelson - Men's Basketball; Genevieve Nelson - Women's Soccer; Alli Steffen – Wrestling; Maddy Stuvland - Women's Basketball and Women's Golf; and Anya Williams - Softball  

The award will be recognized and honored at the CSC Unite Convention in Las Vegas, Nev., on Wednesday, June 12.