Open magazine (2008/09) and Open-AU online have received high praise from the Association of Marketing & Communication Professionals (MarCom) by being awarded the Platinum Award in Design for Open-AU and the Gold Award in Design for Open magazine.

The MarCom awards is an international creative competition that recognizes outstanding achievement by marketing and communication professionals. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers. The competition has grown to one of the largest of its kind in the world. Past winners range in size from individual communicators to media conglomerates and Fortune 500 companies.

Judges are industry professional that look for companies whose talents exceed a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry. There were almost 5000 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and several foreign countries in the MarCom Awards 2009 competition.

The talented team that work on Open magazine and Open-AU are

• Nancy Biamonte (creative director)
• Jennifer Luckay (graphic design/print coordination)
• Patricia Balderston, Diane Morrison, John O'Brien (writers) 
• Blaise MacMullin (photography) 
• Eva von Buchenroder (contract editor)
• Cathy Nickel (contract writer)
• Chris Hunt (contract illustrator)
• Vern Hume, Elizabeth Gusnoski and Rodrigo Silva (web unit - Open-AU)

with contributions from Development and External Relations, and AU Press.

These awards are shared by the entire Open team.