The ADDY Award competition, created by the American Advertising Federation of Des Moines, took place Feb. 21 at the Scottish Rite Consistory Building in Des Moines for students and professional advertisers to submit their work.

This competition was developed to recognize efforts in the advertising field. The ADDY competition is also student-oriented, giving students the opportunity to be credited for their work. It also gives them the chance to meet with the local advertising agencies nearby.

Jay Newell, associate advertising professor and adviser for Iowa State’s Advertising Club, said participating in the ADDYs is a privilege for students who work hard to live up to professional standards.

“I think [the ADDYs] is a big deal because it puts the student work in front of the professional community,” Newell said.

The ADDYs are based on a three-tiered awards system, much like the American Advertising Federation’s national competition. It starts at the local competition, then the winners are forwarded to the second highest tier, where winners are selected from the district level and then submitted to win a national award.

Each guest began the evening by viewing the display of advertisements hanging by clothespins on string placed along the side of the room. Each submission is meant to reflect creativity, hard work and enthusiasm.

Ads were displayed in many ways, such as boxes, T-shirts, bags, projection slides, posters, beer bottles, guides, invitations and pamphlets. 

This awards event had many categories, such as newspaper, poster or digital advertising, out-of-home advertising and campaign advertising. 

Professionals and advertising agencies from the local Des Moines area were awarded first within each category. The student awards came next, in the second half of the event, dividing into the same multitude of categories.

The director of this awards event, Shelana Laing, said that the judging takes place about one month prior to the event and takes almost two days to complete.

“You could have a category such as digital apps and those applicants could get gold because their entries were amazing. It has nothing to do with the fact that they were in a certain category,” Laing said.

Iowa State was featured in the event and many of the American Advertising Federation’s members were Greenlee graduates from Iowa State.

Gold winners from Iowa State at the event included Lisa Davis and Megan Rupiper. Silver awards were also given to Lisa Davis and Jiahong “Ceci” Du.

Rupiper, senior in graphic design, also received special recognition for one of her posters. She received the Best of Show award, meaning that her work was considered the best out of the student contestants.

Laing also said that the camaraderie at the event is a great thing for students to witness if advertising is something that they could picture themselves doing after graduation.