TROY students win 28 awards in annual ADDY competition

Troy University students won 28 awards at the American Advertising Federation (ADDY) student competition this year.

In December 2021, TROY’s graphic design professors reviewed the “best of the best” of student work from the previous year. TROY is affiliated with the ADDY chapters in Dothan and Montgomery, and the department’s professors entered the students in competitions in both chapters.

“This year, we, the art and design faculty, were ecstatic to have over 150 entries come in from students to be considered for the competition in a multitude of media including illustration, photography, web design, graphic design, video and motion graphics,” said Chris Stagl, Associate Professor of Design.

The majority of submitted works were projects students created in TROY’s classrooms.

“Students can submit any work that they want, but the majority of work submitted is a class project,” Stagl said. “The work that we put into the competition really did represent the very best of the TROY graphic design program and beyond, including student work from computer science major Jacob Messick who took home two silver awards for projects he created in our motion graphics class. We’re very happy to see, and encourage, more non-majors to take art and design classes to expand their creativity.”

Messick said he was genuinely surprised to have won the awards—since design is unrelated to his major—and encourages other students to broaden their horizons.

“I told everyone it’s so crazy because it’s not my major and it was a free elective I randomly took. Design does not have to be exclusive to Arts majors; it can be incorporated into almost everything we do, and if not, it encourages creative thinking and inspires in unexpected ways,” he said. “I took a design class because I had credits to fill, but I’ve gained so much from it and I’d encourage anyone that can and has it in their hearts to take a class. I couldn’t be prouder to have taken motion graphics and accomplish what I have with it, to be a Trojan and to have done it all at Troy!”

Travis Carlson also racked up multiple awards for the Trojans, including Student Designer of the Year, Best in Show, Judges Choice, four Gold awards and one Silver award.

“I’m honored to have received so many ADDY awards for Troy University,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to see hard work pay off and be celebrated. I’m also thankful for the help and support I received from the TROY Design Department.

“On behalf of the art and design faculty, we couldn’t be more proud of all of our students and their incredible accomplishments at this year’s competition,” Stagl said.

The winners are listed as follows:

Montgomery AAF Chapter

Student Designer of the Year

“Unplug” by Travis Carlson

Best in Show

“Unplug” by Travis Carlson

Judges Choice

Campaign Awareness Campaign by John Carbone

Logo Unplug by Travis Carlson

Gold ADDY winners

Illustration – Campaign Unplug by Travis Carlson

Campaign Unplug by Travis Carlson