BGSU Photography Director Craig Bell's photo illustrating the entrepreneurial spirit earned him a gold medal in this year's CASE Circle of Excellence awards competition.

BGSU photographers’ work rewarded for excellence

University Photography Director Craig Bell has recently been awarded a gold medal in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Circle of Excellence competition.

Craig Bell

One of only three winners nationwide from 79 entries in the individual photography division of the publication awards, Bell was honored for his photo of Richard Acker, a member of the team that won the BGSU 2004 Entrepreneurship Student Competition.

The winning photo, which appeared in the Bowling Green State University Foundation Inc.’s 2003-04 Annual Report, is an “illustration of the entrepreneurial spirit,” Bell said. It was part of a report on BGSU’s new entrepreneurship program.

Bell, who joined the University in December 1998, was previously the photo editor at the Gaston Gazette in Gastonia, N.C. Since coming to Bowling Green, he has also won several Crystal awards from the Toledo chapter of Women in Communications.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with an office in London, CASE is the professional organization for advancement professionals at all levels who work in alumni relations, communications and development. Its membership includes more than 3,000 colleges, universities and independent elementary and secondary schools in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and 42 other countries.

The annual Circle of Excellence awards recognize achievement in alumni relations, communications, marketing and fund raising.

Bell’s award is the second time in two years that a member of the Marketing and Communications photography staff has been honored. Last year, Brad Phalin won an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship.

Photos from Phalin’s “Archaeology of the American Dream" project have appeared in the March 2003 edition of Photo District News magazine and as part of a two-man show at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio, in summer 2004.

His work has also appeared in the Oxford American magazine and has been exhibited at BGSU’s Fine Arts Center as part of the 2004 New Music and Art Festival.

His photographs are currently on display in the Trellis Gallery at the Schedel Memorial Gardens and Arboretum in Elmore, Ohio, through July 30.