ADDY awards recognize UA Myers School of Art for design excellence

Graphic design students, faculty and a graduate of the Mary Schiller Myers School of Art at The University of Akron have won 14 ADDY awards for advertising design excellence. The awards include a Gold ADDY and the Judges Choice Award in the professional category, plus a Best of Show award in the student category.

The ADDY Awards, considered the world's largest advertising competition, honor creative excellence and cultivate the highest creative standards in the industry.

Held at the Akron Urban League earlier this month, the prestigious awards event was the first of a three-tiered national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). The AAF is the oldest national advertising trade association, representing 40,000 professionals in the advertising industry.  

Both awards in the professional category and five awards in the student category went to "design x nine," a "real world" graphic design studio at UA's Myers School of Art. Each year, faculty members Janice Troutman and John Morrison choose nine of UA's top graphic design students for the award-winning studio. The students work with real clients to hone their design skills, business savvy, technical knowledge, teamwork abilities and the other talents they need to succeed in the highly competitive field of graphic design.

Professional Category

Gold ADDY - design x nine, 1764 Buttons (signage/installation produced by design x nine for Design Week 2012). Creative directors: Janice Troutman and John Morrison, faculty members in the UA Myers School of Art. Designer: Brittyn DeWerth, a 1999 graduate of the UA Graphic Design Program who was a student in design x nine.

Judges Choice award - design x nine, 1764 Buttons. This was one of only three Judges Choice awards.

Student Category

Gold ADDY awards:
Zak Bettendorf, Portfolio Website — Tyler, Minn.
Joseph Ickes, Joseph Ickes Website  — Bainbridge
James Patterson, Vertical Farming Campaign — Ashtabula
Michael Talese, Razor Logo — Wooster
Kareem Taftaf, NRDC Save the Bees Campaign — Cuyahoga Falls

Silver ADDY awards:
Adam Citak, Save the Whales Poster — Przysietnica, Poland
David Dellosa, Cilantro Restaurant Logo — Green
Brian Todd, NRDC Wind Energy Campaign — Medina
Jaclyn Wright, Kawlah Photograph; Elizabeth Photograph — Norton

Student Best of Show award:
James Patterson — Ashtabula

Student Honorable Mention:
Kareem Taftaf, illustration — Cuyahoga Falls

Media contact: Cyndee Snider, 330-972-5196 or cyndee@uakron.edu.