START took home the gold award for the research publications category of Institutional Relations Publications, and also accepted the silver award for Excellence in Design among multi-page publications. The 2011 Research Review beat out seven other entries to win the gold award and earned silver in a category with over 100 entries.
The Circle of Excellence seeks to recognize outstanding work in various professional fields, and winners are selected based on factors such as, "overall quality, innovation, use of resources and the impact on the institution or its external and internal communities, such as alumni, parents, students and faculty and staff."
The 2011 Research Review featured 10 START research projects that strive to analyze and explain various topics at the forefront of terrorism and counterterrorism issues today. Each research project includes written and visual works to make the conclusions of the projects clearer to audiences.
Just a few examples of these research projects include "Trajectories of Terror: Islamic Radicalization in North America" by Gary Ackerman and John Sawyer, and "IED I.D.- Understanding Terrorist Bomb Attacks and Improvised Explosive Device Usage" by Margaret Wilson, Richard Legault and START director Gary LaFree.