Seattle University in Seattle, Washington, has been awarded the CampusTours August 2008 Four Star Tour Award for their narrated photographic virtual tour.

As video quickly becomes the favored medium for communicating with prospective students many colleges and universities are scrambling to develop video virtual tours and student spotlights for their Web sites. However, developing quality video with compelling messages for distinct institutional audiences can be challenging, expensive and time consuming. One alternative to traditional video is the narrated slideshow or "linear animation." Composing linear animation involves outlining, scripting and recording short narration segments and coupling them with animated still photographs to create a compelling narrated and animated slideshow. Often referred to as the "Ken Burns" effect because of the prevalence of this effect in the director's documentaries, narrated slideshows allow institutions to construct concise elegant vignettes that many people find nearly indistinguishable from actual videos.

The Seattle University virtual tour opens with an interactive map of campus, allowing visitors to explore the institution through individual buildings. However, since most prospective students will not be familiar with campus at the outset, the tour also offers more general Life at Seattle University vignettes that provide a brief overview of living and learning at Seattle University. Our panel of prospective students appreciated both the Life At Seattle University slideshows and the overall ease of navigating the campus via the map.

The CampusTours Awards Committee found the Seattle University virtual tour to be a creative online experience, worthy of the CampusTours Four-Star Virtual Tour Award!