Wittliff Collections honored with TAM ‘Judge’s Favorite’ award

By Paige Wilkerson
University News Service
August 28, 2011

The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University-San Marcos received certificates and a special honor from the Texas Association of Museums for an exhibition held last year.

This is the first time the Wittliff Collections has received the Judges’ Favorite Award. Additionally, the Wittliff Collections placed in all five categories.

“Over the years the Wittliff Collections have won nearly 60 awards,” said Michelle Miller, publications designer at the Wittliff Collections. “I think my design award total is now at 26, most of which are Wilder Awards with a handful being past CASE District IV awards, including a 2005 Grand Award for the Wittliff newsletter, The Keystone.”

Miller created an invitation design for the Cormac McCarthy exhibition which featured a 2002 photograph by Rocky Schenck, titled Stump, from the permanent photographic holdings at the Wittliff Collections. Her design won a gold award and was also chosen as the Judges’ Favorite.

Texas State held the first large-scale public showcase exhibition of writer, Cormac McCarthy’s notes, handwritten drafts, unpublished pieces and correspondence from Aug.-Dec. of last year.

Cormac McCarthy is the author of All the Pretty Horses, Blood Meridian, No Country for Old Men and The Road, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007.

The literary papers and materials were held at Texas State’s Wittliff Collections. Last October, the Witliff hosted the Cormac McCarthy Society’s annual conference.

The Mitchell A. Wilder Publication Design Award Competition is named in honor for one of the early advocates of excellence in museum publications, Mitchell A. Wilder. He was the founding director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth.

There were five categories in the competition and the Witliff Collections placed in all five:

Invitations and Development Campaign Materials:
Cormac McCarthy Exhibition Event Invitation – Gold + Judges’ Favorite (designed by Michele Miller)

Newsletters, Brochures, and Announcements:
The Keystone, Fall 2010 – Silver (designed by Michele Miller)

Books and Catalogues:
Painted Light – Gold (designed by Ellen McKie of UT Press, Bill Wittliff and Kate Breakey)

Marketing Materials, Supplementary Materials, and Posters:
Poster Series for 2010 English Department Visiting Writers – Silver (designed by Michele Miller)

Non-Print Media (audio, video, Web site, interactive media):
Wittliff Collections Web site – Merit (designed by Wittliff staff and Jolly Design)