Several students from Samford University’s School of the Arts recently took home honors at the Birmingham chapter of the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF Birmingham) annual American Advertising Awards. This is a celebration of excellence in advertising from Birmingham agencies, corporations, nonprofits, universities and freelancers.
Students from the Department of Art and Design submitted works created in various courses that the School of the Arts offers. Seven students and one recent alumnus took home an Addy Award, winning four gold and five silver awards out of the over 40,000 entries submitted. Below are the students and the awards they won:
Christian Brewer, senior: Brewer won gold for a poster campaign that was part of her senior project entitled “Take Your Meds,” which was a social awareness campaign targeting Gen Z and seeking to address the stigmas existing around treatments for mental health.
Katelyn McCoy ’24: McCoy won gold for her logo design for Bridge, a company she created to cultivate collaborative workspaces.
Claire Phegley, senior: Phegley won gold for her magazine entitled You Were Made For This—an experimental publication celebrating the outdoors as God’s creation and inviting people to get out and explore.
Emily Singleton, senior: Singleton won gold for her design for the Cherri Cooking website, which was the main focus of her senior project. She built an interactive website based on the family recipes her grandmother used to make to bring the family together.
Anna Baldwin, senior: Baldwin won silver for a book cover and poster design that utilized handmade type for a new cover design of All The Light We Cannot See and a promotional poster for a new release of the book.
Emma Ferrante, senior: Ferrante won a silver for her Actually brand & native app design, set up to promote and encourage meaningful social interaction and mental health. She also won silver for her branding/packaging design for a self-created company called Tango Tequila, including can designs and a custom 4-pack box.
Ellie Hogan, senior: Hogan won silver for a series of magazines and posters that were a part of her senior project entitled “27”, which was created to honor the lives and deaths of six members of the infamous “27 Club.”
Marlee Jones, sophomore: Jones won silver for her Gloria Steinem book cover design, a project where students had to select a “Civil Warrior”—someone who has fought for the rights of a particular group of people and create a cover featuring a constructed image of their civil warrior.
Geoff Sciacca, professor of graphic design, praised the students for their continued success with AAF Birmingham. Rene Zimny and Scott Fisk were the faculty who took students to the event with Sciacca, and all of the work submitted was created in classes taught by Sciacca and Zimny.
“It’s always incredibly satisfying to see our students getting some well-earned affirmation in front of the greater Birmingham design community, and in some cases going on to continue winning in our 7-state district or even nationals,” Sciacca said. “I continue to be so proud of them!”
GIVE: Donate to Samford’s School of the Arts
