Communications Team Wins Awards for Storytelling, Features Writing and Communications Initiatives
December 16, 2025
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has recognized three projects from the Jackson School of Geosciences’ Office of Communications in this year’s communications and marketing awards.
CASE is one of the world’s largest associations of educational institutions. Its annual awards recognize outstanding contributions to alumni relations, communications, development, and marketing in the world of education. Three members of the Jackson School’s communications team were honored in three categories for CASE District IV, which covers Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas:
- Assistant Director Monica Kortsha won for storytelling with her feature on “The Science of Birdsong.”
- Julia Sames, communications coordinator in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, won for Communications Initiatives for her efforts to promote the Jackson School’s New Climate Degree.
- Constantino Panagopulos, the former communications coordinator at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, won for News/Feature Writing with his feature “Into the Glacial Abyss.”
“We have an extremely strong group of communicators at the Jackson School who work tirelessly to tell the stories of the science and education to audiences all over the world,” said Jackson School Communications Director Anton Caputo. “Monica, Julia and Constantino are talented writers, as their showing at CASE illustrates. But even more, their dedication to understanding the importance and impact of our scientists’ work and presenting it in a way that all can understand is inspiring. I am proud an honored to work with such professionals.”
The “Science of Birdsong” began as a press release that presented findings from three related scientific studies on the vocal organ of birds, the syrinx. Kortsha saw potential in this release for a more in-depth story about the research, which Jackson School Professor Julia Clarke has been leading for over a decade. The story ties together findings about the genetic connection between the syrinx and the larynx, the vocal organ of reptiles and mammals, with research conducted by the Clarke lab on syrinx anatomy in ostriches and hummingbirds — the world’s largest and smallest birds. Kortsha also art directed a custom illustration to accompany the story, which won an American Illustration award.
The unveiling of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences’ new major in climate system science required a multifaceted communications strategy to reach current students, prospective students, their parents, alumni, and the geosciences community as a whole. In order to reach each group with a tailored message, Sames wrote a feature story for two of the school’s print magazines, rolled out a social media plan, created a new webpage for the degree, wrote and distributed a press release and invited local and on-campus media to cover the story. The story ended up on the front page of The Daily Texan, The University of Texas at Austin’s student newspaper, and was covered by local television stations and carried by MSN.com.
“Into the Glacial Abyss” is the cover story for the Jackson School’s 2024 issue of the Newsletter. Panagopulos embarked on an expedition to Greenland led by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics and told the story of the first underwater exploration of two large glaciers. The story loosely covers 14 days of the expedition, during which the reader follows the scientists as they conduct field research, deploy sophisticated scientific instruments and respond to the drama and challenges of working in an extreme environment.