Conestoga news

May 9, 2002 1:42 PM

Conestoga Student Wins Third Prize in Ontario “Wine by Design” Competition

Conestoga College Graphic Design student Niilo Autio has won third-place honours in “Wine by Design”, a province-wide competition to recognize and showcase the outstanding talents of Ontario’s design students.

Autio, who is from South Porcupine, wins a $200 gift certificate from Toronto’s The Wine Establisment Limited for packaging design and promotion ideas for a hypothetical Canadian wine, Oakville Ridge. Autio’s work was one of 255 entries from eleven Ontario colleges. Prize winners were announced at a special reception held at The Wine Establishment on the evening of May 8. In all, six finalists competed at the final stage of judging. The work of all six may be viewed at http://wine-by-design.ca/finalists.jsp.

Finalists came from Conestoga, Algonquin College, Humber College, York University/Sheridan College and the Ontario College of Art and Design. First place (a $2,000 bursary) goes to James Pentland of Humber; second place (a $500 wine weekend in Niagara Region) goes to Michelle Luk of OCAD.

Each entry was evaluated on the basis of a number of criteria: creativity, uniqueness, shelf visibility, strength and consistency of design, Canadian imagery, emotional appeal of the design, quality of the presentation, strength of the promotional idea, plus a written rationale.

The competition was sponsored by Pigeon* Branding + Design of Oakville, in partnership with Applied Arts
magazine, the Ontario College of Art and Design, Strategy magazine and The Wine Establishment. Pigeon* Branding + Design, a leading Canadian firm in the development of brand identities, initiated the “Wine by Design” project.

The distinguished judging panel consisted of: wine expert/author/journalist Tony Aspler; chef/educator Michael Olson; Krystyna Hoeg, President and CEO of Corby Distilleries Ltd.; Stephen Stanley, Creative Director of Brunico Publishing; John Nadeau, President of The Wine Establishment; George Haroutiun, President and Publisher of Applied Arts magazine; and Thomas Pigeon, CEO of Pigeon* Branding + Design.

CONTACTS:
Tanya Testa, Pigeon* Branding + Design, 905-338-8300, ext. 235 <ttesta@pigeonbrands.com>
Jim Warrington, Fantail Communications, 416-363-8449 <jim@fantailinc.com>
Shelley Pringle, Polaris Public Relations, 416-597-1518 <shelley@polarisprinc.com>