RU ADDY winners enjoy a night at the museum

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"Culper Ring Coffee" by Jacob Hardbower, won a Gold Student ADDY

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Crystal Jernigan and her "Cafe Bella" project during her 2014 senior exhibit at RU.

It was not the average night at the museum. Instead on the evening of Feb. 28, 12 Radford University students won 16 distinctions at the 2015 Western Virginia Advertising Awards at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke.

After the museum closed its doors to the public, it reopened to the Roanoke American Advertising Federation members, guests, and ADDY award entrants including students. Entries were on display as people arrived and networked from the New River Valley, Roanoke and Lynchburg.

“The ADDY awards are a golden opportunity for our students to get their work in front of the southwest Virginia design and advertising community, and whether they win or lose in the actual award show, they have their work on display right next to all the advertising professionals in our region,” said Ken Smith, associate professor of graphic design. “This of course gives them a great opportunity to
make a memorable impression on their potential employers.”

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Crystal Jernigan's "Cafe Bella" won the Judge's Choice Award at the 2015 Western Virginia Advertising Awards.

Winning entries were announced via video on monitors spread throughout the lobby.

One winning entrant mentioned several times from RU was recent alumna Crystal Jernigan. Participants are allowed to enter work they did their last year as college students in student section. Jernigan’s four wins are prime examples of this.

She won two Gold’s for “ 10 Places NYC” (Publication Series) and “Café Bella” (Packaging Campaign). Her Silver was for “Cat Yoga” (Publication Series).

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Shawna Hession's "Marigold" won a Gold Student ADDY

In addition, she received the coveted Judges’ Choice Award (Everything & Kitchen Sink), sponsored by Corrugated Container Corp for her “Café Bella” packaging project.

“I think the biggest inspiration for the packaging that I did for this project was pattern making,” Jernigan said, “I created the pattern that I used on all of the different items first and then I thought it would be fun to take different parts of the pattern and incorporate them at a larger scale on some of the packaging like the fork on the to-go box and the spoon on the soup cup.”

Jernigan currently works as a graphic designer for Tradeshowdirect in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Another winner of two Gold ADDYs was Ashley Marlowe, who won two National Silver ADDYs last year. She is an MFA graduate student and both her entries for this year featured Lewis Carroll’s character named Alice. One was for “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (in Space!)” (Book Design category) and “Alice, Down the Wormhole” (Illustration, Campaign category).

Three other RU art majors with a concentration in graphic design won Gold awards. These were Jacob Hardbower for “Culper Ring Coffee” (Packaging Campaign), Shawna Hession’s “Marigolds” (Publication Cover), and Peter Mattox for “History of Graphic Design” (Animation or Special Effects).

Hession’s winning illustration is one she created for RU’s production of “The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.” Both she and Hardbower are student designers for the RU College of Visual and Performing Arts.

In addition to Jernigan’s Silver ADDY, RU won seven more. Like Jernigan, three are recent graduates from the RU graphic design program. Rachel DeBusk and Brian Sowers both won for their student projects in the Poster Single category. DeBusk earned hers for “Bruises” and Sowers for his Dan Owens Band poster. Andrew Beaver’s “Conspiracy Confectioneries” secured his success in the Product Packaging category.

Also winning a Silver in this Poster Single category is current student graphic design student Alexa Stevens for her “Cherokee Poster.” Her peers Alyssa Pull and Madison Suter won for “Three Sirens Press logo” (Elements of Advertising: Logo) and “Blu Kava” (Stationery Package) respectively.

RU Communications student Jake Wenzel won for his entry in the Cinematography category.

“We are proud of our Radford University community that is represented at these awards not only by our students and recent graduates but also our alumni who work or own many of the winning companies and agencies in the professional category as well as teach or chair the winning programs in the student category,” said John O’Connor, assistant professor of graphic design.

All Gold winners automatically advance to the American Advertising Federation’ s District Three awards. Those with Silvers have the option of sending theirs along for a small fee. District Three includes North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

For more information about the 2015 Western Virginia Advertising Awards, visit www.aafroanoke.org. To learn more about the RU graphic design program, visit www.radford.edu/content/cvpa/home/art/programs/undergraduate/graphic-design.html.

Mar 5, 2015
CVPA
540-831-6237
cvpa411@radford.edu