SMU Meadows School of the Arts students win local American Advertising Awards (formerly the ADDYS)

Students at the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts won multiple honors, including Best of Show, in the Student category of the annual American Advertising Federation (AAF) American Advertising Awards local competition, hosted by AAF-Dallas on February 26 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. The awards were formerly known as the ADDYs.

SMU students won awards in three categories, including one bronze, one silver and one gold. The gold-winning entry, a digital/mobile app developed for Einstein Brothers by Mackenzie Keck (B.A. ’14), was named Student Best of Show.

The SMU winning entries were as follows:

Bronze Award

CLIENT: Scotch Blue Painter’s Tape
CATEGORY: Consumer/Trade Publication Campaign
CREDITS: Alexandra Nowlin and Jaimmy Koroma

Silver Award

CLIENT: Dallas Zoo
CATEGORY: Non-Traditional Campaign
CREDITS: Mackenzie Keck and Paul Curry

Gold Award and Student Best of Show

CLIENT: Einstein Brothers
CATEGORY: Digital-Mobile Apps
CREDITS: Mackenzie Keck

“We are proud of the work done by these imaginative and enthusiastic Temerlin students,” said Dr. Steve Edwards, chair of the Temerlin Advertising Institute. “There is no greater visibility for advertising students in Dallas than receiving these beautiful awards in front of 1000 professionals. They now have the opportunity to start conversations with, ‘when I won an American Advertising Award…’ Students like Mackenzie, Paul, Alexandra and Jaimmy continue to build the reputation of the Temerlin Advertising Institute as THE preeminent advertising program in Dallas.”

Mackenzie Keck, an advertising/creative major with a double minor in film and graphic design, said she was thrilled to have won both a gold and Student Best of Show. “I am especially honored because there were so many outstanding student entries this year,” she said. “The creative program at SMU Temerlin has helped me so much – it provides well rounded training that most other schools don’t have. It lets us get an undergraduate degree and develop our portfolios at the same time.”

The local American Advertising Awards are the first level of a three-tier, national competition. Local winners can go on to the district competition in Austin, Texas, April 16. District winners compete in the national American Advertising Awards in Boca Raton, Fla., May 31. At the national level, student entries are eligible for a finalist certificate, a national Student American Advertising Award for first-place winners, and a $1000 cash prize for the national Best of Show winner.

Judges for this year’s Dallas American Advertising Awards were Bob Thacker, executive director of Adopt-a-Classroom; Scott Troutman, creative director, Doe-Anderson, Louisville, Ky.; and Courtney McHugh, director of interactive solutions, Roll Global.

The American Advertising Awards are the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition, recognizing and rewarding creative excellence in the art of advertising. Every year more than 50,000 entries are submitted in local American Advertising Awards competitions. The Student American Advertising Awards, sponsored by the American Advertising Federation and National Ad 2, are a sub-category designed especially for college students. Applicants must be enrolled full- or part-time in an accredited U.S. educational institution.

Established in 2001 in the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU, the Temerlin Advertising Institute for Education and Research is the country’s first endowed institute for the study of advertising. The Institute is named in honor of Liener Temerlin, a respected humanitarian and leader in the advertising industry. Offering both B.A. and M.A. degrees, TAI trains students to search for unique solutions in advertising, preparing them for work in advertising agencies, media firms, corporate marketing departments and design studios. In its first decade of existence TAI has established an award-winning track record. Students have earned numerous honors, including two national and four district championships in the AAF National Student Advertising Competition and dozens of creative awards in prestigious regional, national and international competitions including The One Show, CMYK Magazine and The Art Directors Club of New York. In addition, the Temerlin Institute has been named one of 10 leaders in advertising education among colleges and universities in the U.S. by Stuart Elliott, advertising critic for The New York Times.