SJSU's Ad Program Wins Big at The ADDYs

Wow, what a night for the Advertising Program! The 2019 Silicon Valley American Advertising Awards were dominated by wins from SJSU students resulting in the best year yet for the Ad program. Advertising students have increased participation in this annual award show every year and with greater participation comes a greater number of wins. This year students won a total of 11 Silvers, 16 Golds, 4 ADDYs, 3 Best of Shows, 2 Judges Awards. That’s a huge achievement and a massive improvement on even last year’s trawl.

Each year, the American Advertising Federation organizes competitions around the US celebrating the best creative work of the previous year. Competitions are initially focused around Chapters (SJSU belongs to the Silicon Valley Chapter) with Gold awarded work and recipients of ADDYs (the highest ranking Gold in a given category) progressing automatically to the Regional phase. The final phase is National where the cream of the creative crop competes for the coveted national ADDYs.

Breaking into the advertising industry as a creative takes skill, determination and a killer portfolio. Adding an award to a campaign showcased in a portfolio adds extra weight and makes a recruiter sit up and take notice. An ADDY award, from any phase in the competition, indicates a certain level of quality because student work is judged alongside professional work and adhere to the same high standards.

SJSU’s Creative Advertising students can feel proud that they will carry ADDY status in their portfolios. Winning work ranged from campaign executions by Arturo Castaneda and his team for San José City Council’s HR Department. A campaign encouraging young graduates to pursue a career in public service may not sound exciting, but Arturo and his team produced a visually stunning campaign that won Silver in the Out-of-Home and Film, Video and Sound categories. They also won Gold in the, again, Out-of-Home and Illustration categories. Alex Aubry was rewarded for her copywriting skills by winning Silver in the Print category and Gold in the Film, Video and Sound category.

Cassie Reyes and her creative partner Brian Tolentino won a number of awards for a campaign for Inspidere, a revolutionary textile made from cow manure. This was a project that began in the Account Planning class at Syracuse and was then passed on to SJSU’s Ad Production class. An example of educational partnerships that work. They won 4 Silvers for Copywriting (2), Online and Interactive and Print. Other Inspidere projects also won big. Maneek Rajasani and Daniel Welch won Gold for a really fun video and Annie Coleman took home 3 Golds and an ADDY!

The City of San José HR campaign, a project that was set by CommUniverCity, was also the focus of Silver and Gold Awards for Levalle Beloney and his team. They won Silver for Art Direction, Gold for Film, Video and Sound, and an ADDY in the Film, Video and Sound category. Copywriting students Tony Wong, Cosette Velasquez and Kendra Rodenburg won Silver in Copywriting. Barndon Torres won a Silver for Still Photography and a Gold for Art Direction. By far, the biggest winners were Eden Kovler and her team who achieved a stunning 3 Golds, 2 ADDYs, 2 Best of Shows and 2 Judges Awards! Their project was a response to a brief set by the Anti-Defamation League that captured the imagination of all the judges.

Here are all the winners for 2019, but bear in mind that the story continues as all Golds and ADDYs move on to the Regional phase of America’s most coveted advertising award show.

Silver

• Print Advertising: Cassie Reyes and Brian Tolentino
• Print Advertising: Alex Aubry
• Print Advertising: Cassie Reyes
• Out of Home: Arturo Castaneda, Adriel Trejo, Edwin Lopez, Daniel Casadesus
• Online and Interactive: Cassie Reyes
• Film, Video and Sound: Arturo Castaneda, Adriel Trejo, Edwin Lopez, Daniel Casadesus
• Elements of Advertising – Copywriting: Cassie Reyes
• Elements of Advertising – Copywriting: Cassie Reyes and Brian Tolentino
• Elements of Advertising – Copywriting: Tony Wong, Kendra Rodenburg and Cosette Velasquez
• Elements of Advertising – Still Photography: Brandon Torres
• Elements of Advertising – Art Direction: Levalle Beloney and the Vision team

Gold

• Out of Home: Arturo Castaneda, Adriel Trejo, Edwin Lopez, Daniel Casadesus
• Online and Interactive: Annie Coleman
• Online and Interactive: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other
• Film, Video and Sound: Alex Aubry
• Film, Video and Sound: Levalle Beloney and the Vision team
• Film, Video and Sound: Maneek Rajasani and Daniel Welch
• Film, Video and Sound: Annie Coleman
• Film, Video and Sound: SJSU NSAC 2018 Team
• Cross Platform: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other
• Cross Platform: SJSU NSAC 2018 Team
• Cross Platform: Annie Coleman
• Elements of Advertising – Copywriting: SJSU NSAC 2018 Team
• Elements of Advertising – Illustration: Arturo Castaneda, Adriel Trejo, Edwin Lopez, Daniel Casadesus
• Elements of Advertising – Still Photography: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other
• Elements of Advertising – Art Direction: Brandon Torres
• Elements of Advertising – Art Direction: SJSU NSAC 2018 Team

ADDY

• Online and Interactive: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other
• Film, Video and Sound: Levalle Beloney and the Vision team
• Cross Platform: Annie Coleman
• Elements of Advertising: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other

Best of Show

• Film, Video and Sound: Levalle Beloney and the Vision team
• Online and Interactive: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other
• Elements of Advertising: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other

Judges Award

• Online and Interactive: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other
• Elements of Advertising: Eden Kovler and Picture Each Other