Each semester, students in the School of Communications take the knowledge and skills they have learned in the classroom and use them to create a variety of projects, articles, documentaries and campaigns fit for the professional world. Read below the awards received by communications students and faculty during the Spring 2020 semester.
Advertising
One Club for Creativity’s Young Ones Competition
In this year’s One Club for Creativity’s Young Ones Competition, students from the AdLab had an impressive year. BYU’s advertising program was ranked as the second best creative program in the world for the third year in a row, up against all commercial arts categories, not just advertising, such as design, animation, illustration and photography.
See all other awards received below:
- Ranked #1 in the Portfolio Category, with four winning entries
- Cam Tribe and Enoch Lui (advertising)
- Connor Dean and Derrick Trotman (film)
- Ranked #2 in the Young Ones ADC Category, with 22 winning entries
- See all 22 winning entries here.
- Ranked #2 in the Young Ones Brief Category, with 12 winning entries
From left to right: Cam Tribe, Enoch Lui, Connor Dean, Derrick Trotman
“Advertising faculty and students are grateful for the continued support of the School of Communications and the donor funding that has enabled them to enter more work, which in turn has led to creating more opportunities for more students, and now more awarded campaigns,” Jeff Sheets, director of BYU’s AdLab said. “It has been a great year with a lot of meaningful projects and powerful mentorship for our students.”
College Television Awards Student Emmys
In the recent virtual awards ceremony for the Student Emmys from the 2020 College Television Awards, BYU was announced as the top winner in the TV Commercial category. The winning entry was an ad created for Reebok. There were only two other finalists in this category, one of them another BYU campaign for Crocs.
The College Television Awards recognize and reward excellence in student-produced television from colleges and universities across the country, providing both recognition and professional development opportunities for winners and nominees.
- Rock Them Crocs – Michael Hanks, Peter Molnar, Derek Trotman
BYU advertising students continued to dominate in the annual Effie Collegiate Competition. For the contest, IBM invited students across the United States to develop a marketing campaign focused on IBM and The Weather Channel app. Two BYU teams advanced to the semi-finals. Team members included Rebekah Baker, Leah Nelson, Eric Forbush and Connor Poulson; and Bridie Bowerbank, Devin Wells, Lauren Brian and Lili Maero.
The latter group, from adjunct professor Hailey Peterson’s class, won the IBM brand challenge and took home the Effie Collegiate 10 title.
BYU advertising students also made a strong showing in the recent Telly Awards contest, with 15 of the AdLab‘s 18 total submissions winning awards. This includes a Gold winning entry in each of the contest’s student categories. This year’s contest represents an impressive increase in the total number of BYU’s winners, jumping from three in 2018 to six in 2019, and now to 15 in 2020.
Online Commercials/Student Category:
- Gold – LA Times-Decisions
- Silver – Lionheart
- Silver – REI-Silence Your Phone
- Silver – Chanel-The Black Dress
- Silver – RAINN-Asking For It
- Bronze – Nike-Sport Your Support
- Bronze – FedExtreme
- Bronze – Good Enough x American Crew
- Bronze – Bumble-An Easier Way to Say Hello
- Bronze – IKEA-Make it Yours
Social Video/Student Category:
- Gold – Having a Coke With You
- Bronze – Trident-Chew More, Do More
- Bronze – Roomba-A Perfectly Choreographed Clean
Branded Content/Student Category:
- Gold – Devacurl-Love Your Monster
- Bronze – Quasar Science-Lights, Camera, Action!
The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work created within television and across video, for all screens. More than 12,000 entries were received, representing the United States and five continents.
Journalism
Three BYU broadcast journalism students were selected as 2020 Gracie Award winners. BYU students honing their craft in the Newsline lab took home half of the awards in the Television Student category. Winners were:
- Isabela Erekson: Hard News Feature;
- Danielle Hallows: On-Air Talent;
- Cierra Ysasaga: Director.
The Gracie Awards are presented annually by the Alliance for Women in Media, recognizing women in all facets of media and entertainment who exemplify outstanding team leadership and individual achievement. Read more here.
Public Relations
Google Marketing Challenge Award
During Spring semester, a team of our Y Digital students were selected as winners of the Top Marketer Award in Google’s Global Online Marketing Challenge. This is the first year that BYU has competed in this competition, known as GOMC.
Adam Durfee oversaw three competition teams during winter semester as part of a special capstone experience. One of those teams, named “BYU GOMC 3,” won the award, which is the most prestigious award offered in the competition, for which only the top 1% of teams are selected. Team members Camille Christiansen, Sara Jane Aubrey, Madeline Walser, Ikaika Kamimoto and Brooklyn Wood will now enter the spotlight stage of the event where they’ll compete with the winners of each country and region.