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Six Pensacola State College visual arts students earned three gold and five silver awards at the 57th Annual 4th District American Advertising Awards Gala held April 14 in Orlando.
Kelly Bestgen won two gold awards while Alicia Kanuck won one gold award. The two automatically advanced to the 2018 national competition set for June 8 in Chicago.
Silver ADDY winners – Zachary Blessing, Karli Kimmons, Darrian Montgomery and Hanna Peltier – can advance to the national competition, but the entrant is responsible for paying the applicable entry fee.
The American Advertising Awards, formerly known as the ADDYs, “honor excellence in advertising and cultivate the highest creative standards in the industry.” The AAF student division of the competition is open to full- and part-time college students and student interns attending accredited U.S. institutions.
- Bestgen’s “World War I Servicemen” poster series won in the illustration category. Her second entry, “Evolution of the Bike,” a book about the history of bicycles, won in the book design category.
- Kanuck’s “Sexually Assaulted Soldiers” poster won gold in the ambient media poster category. An intern at Lamar Advertising, Kanuck plans to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in the fall.
“It is such an honor to receive two gold awards,” said Bestgen, a December 2017 graduate who is a graphic designer in the college’s marketing department. “It feels amazing to be recognized for my design work, especially since I was competing against major design schools and universities in the state of Florida.”
- Blessing earned a silver award in book design for “Ride: A History of Bikes.” A graphic designer in the college’s marketing department, Blessing graduated in December 2017 with a bachelor’s degree.
● Kimmons design for “Martin’s Linaments” won silver in the sales and marketing/sales promotion category and her “Human Trafficking Poster,” won in the out of home and ambient media category. Kimmons earned her associate degree and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Pensacola State.
- Montgomery won a silver award in the publication covers category for her interpretation of John LeCarre book covers. A student intern in the college’s marketing department, she plans to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in the fall.
● Peltier’s “Starter Jar Packaging” won a silver in the packaging category. The work also won first place at the student art exhibition in 2017. Peltier is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and plans to graduate in December.
Faculty and staff of the college’s visual arts department were proud and pleased with the students’ showing at the regional level.
“No one knows how small we are when our name is spoken loudly at that competition,” said Mark Hopkins, graphic design instructor and co-program coordinator. “They are judged by professionals in the industry, and the competition gets stiffer at every level.”
At the local AAF Pensacola event held in February, Pensacola State won 76 of 175 student awards presented.
Bestgen’s “World War I Servicemen” won a judges’ choice award. Blessing received a judges’ choice award for his “WWI: 100th Year Commemoration” brochure.
Alex Martin, Bara’ah Jaraiseh, Courtney Hallbauer, Daniela de Castro Sucre, Derek Blackman, Devin Bonner, Haley Pierce, Jonathan Dunham, Joshua Clark, Kristian Breeze, Kyle Stamm, Nicole Durst, Sandra Morris, Sarah Goolsby and Whitney Hood also won gold and silver at the local level.
“This year, we had an extraordinary amount of winners at the local level,” said Hopkins who added the college’s visual arts department has come a long way since first competing in early 2000 ─ when only four students won awards at the local level.