Texas Creative Students Sweep Student Austin ADDY Awards

The Austin ADDY Awards were held on February 7th by the Austin Advertising Federation. Texas Creative students competed against top local student talent and won 13 of 15 Student ADDY awards this year, including three Gold ADDY's and the Best of Show Award. The ADDY's are the biggest, most comprehensive advertising awards competition with local advertising agencies, freelancers, marketing companies, design houses, and students competing for awards.

In the Student competition, The History Channel campaign, by Texas students Bonnibel Fonbuena, Art Director, and Dustin Ballard, Copywriter, was highly regarded by the advertising community. They were recognized with a Gold ADDY, the Best of Show award, and "The 'You Want Awards. We Want Jobs' Award" for this campaign. This special judges' award goes to the first agency to hire these talented students. This award went along with the show's theme of "Shameless Self-Promotion."

Bonnibel and Dustin are both Portfolio III students in the Texas Creative program. Dustin stated, "We chose to do a campaign for the History Channel to try to overcome the stigma of it being boring. I like the History Channel because it goes beneath the surface of history, which is important." Both Bonnibel and Dustin agree that the best part of their campaign is its simplicity and ability to relate to all people. Dustin said that he and Bonnibel both came up with the idea for the campaign together, and even as a copywriter, he really likes its lack of words. Dustin also received a Gold ADDY for his work with William Blacklock for Peter Pan Golf, and a Bronze ADDY for Weekly World News with Jill Efrussy.

Portfolio III students Craig Allen, Art Director, and Erik Hernandez, Copywriter, also won a Gold ADDY for their Dunlop Golf Balls campaign. They tried to have an honest, "best friend" approach to their ads which conveyed the message that buying inexpensive golf balls is smart because a poor golfer is bad no matter what kind of golf ball is used. Craig shot the pictures for the ads himself at a local golf course.

Jill Efrussy and Charles Moore received a Bronze ADDY for their Ross Dress for Less campaign. Charles best liked the campaign's simplicity. "It is an idea in its purest form. The thought is that Ross has the exact same clothes you can buy at a department store, but they are significantly less expensive. What better way of saying that than to show the actual price tag that's on the Ross merchandise?" Charles' approach to advertising is the same as to life: "Love it, and it will love you back."

Jill won two other Bronze ADDY's for her campaigns for Weekly World News with Dustin Ballard, as stated above, and Sesame Street on which she collaborated with Matt Clack. Jill said that in addition to being very excited about receiving awards, she feels that they serve as an important critique of her work.

Matt Clack won another Bronze ADDY's in collaboration with Jonathan Marshall for their FedEx campaign. Matt, like Jill, also considered the awards as a great way to receive some outside opinions on their work.

These student successes reflect highly upon the Texas Creative program. All credited the program with training them to constantly strive for original, smart ideas and improvements. Matt stated, "The UT Creative program has high standards. They teach us to make brands come across in intelligent and thoughtful ways and not push the brand. People should have a choice if the want to buy something - good advertising makes them aware but doesn't push."

Jill, who was a creative intern last summer at Young and Rubicam in New York, feels that the program has definitely helped to prepare her for a career in advertising. She feels that UT offers a well-rounded education in addition to expertise comparable to design schools. This combination will be invaluable for success in the advertising world.

Comradery among students in the program is another crucial factor student success. When asked about the best part of the program, Charles's statement reflects the sentiments of the students: "The best part is the people in it - hands down. There is a sense of friendly competition among the students that makes each of us try that much harder to keep up. Someone's always raising the bar. That's the way it should be. That's how good work becomes great. The instructors also do a fantastic job of leading us in the right direction without steering too hard. We are still free to explore whatever we want."

The aspirations of these talented students primarily lie in working at agencies as Art Directors or Copywriters. Many of these students desire to stay in Texas, but remain open to any opportunity that comes their way.

Although these students were very flattered by the awards, they remained grounded in what the awards meant. All felt that it was terrific to receive recognition for their constant hard work. However, they felt that this was just one more thing to keep them motivated to keep working harder and improving. The winners of Gold ADDY's go on to regional competition and those winners move on to national competition.

3/4/2003