Conestoga news

September 16, 2018 9:18 PM

Design students win industry awards

Recent graduates and students in Conestoga’s Graphic Design programs have been honoured with awards in three different industry competitions.

RDG Awards - Rare Earth Organics.jpg
Conestoga graduate Amanda Ashford won the Greenmelon Award for Packaging Design for her entry titled "Red Earth Organics" in RGD's annual student competition.

Amanda Ashford, a graduate of Conestoga’s Graphic Design advanced diploma program, and Jonathan Collie, a student in the Bachelor of Design program, have been named winners of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers’ (RGD) national student design competition. They will each receive Awards of Specialty and a $1,000 prize. 

Eight other Conestoga entries received honourable mentions; they were among the 560 submissions received from design students at more than 30 post-secondary institutions across Canada.

Applied Arts magazine accepts entries for its student competition from both Canada and the U.S. This year, five Conestoga students were named winners and will have their work published in Applied Arts’ fall 2018 issue as well as online in its winners’ gallery and awards archive. The winning student work will also be displayed at Applied Arts events attended by its network of creative professionals.

Judged by a panel of industry professionals and experts, Applied Arts student entries were scored independently on creative merit, technical excellence and suitability for end use. Conestoga winners were Tracey Bui, Olivia Dynerowicz, Taylor Newman-Craigmill, Benji Sahinovic and Grace Stallard. 

Conestoga students have also been named finalists in multiple categories in the Advertising & Design Club of Canada’s (ADCC) 2018 Student Competition which celebrates the best student work in Canadian advertising and design. The winning entries will be presented in the ADCC awards annual, on the ADCC Archive and live at the ADCC Directions 2018 Awards Show in November. 

Conestoga winners were Erynn Hayden, Taylor Newman-Craigmill, Benji Sahinovic, Grace Stallard and Courtney Zoeller.

Conestoga’s Bachelor of Design (co-op) program is unique in Ontario for offering students an inter-professional perspective that blends graphic design, entrepreneurship, and liberal studies courses with co-op opportunities. Enhanced studio space and technologies, including state-of-the-art software, hardware, and printing facilities, are provided.

The three-year Graphic Design advanced diploma program is recognized as one of the top design programs in the province. The program employs a project-based learning approach that addresses design, digital content creation, communication, inter-personal, mechanical, technical and enhanced employability skills.

Visit the School of Media & Design for more information.