Six students win American Graphic Design Awards

MACON – Six graphic design students in Mercer University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recently won awards in Graphic Design USA’s American Graphic Design Awards competition.

“What a wonderful achievement for our students to have earned this national recognition,” said Tennille Shuster, associate professor and director of the graphic design program. “Given GDUSA is such a widely recognized competition in the industry, having our students win numerous awards and seeing them featured in the GDUSA design annual demonstrates to the field that Mercer’s graphic design students are on par with students from top design schools across the country. As we grow the graphic design program, accolades earned by our outstanding students are indicative of the high caliber of talent recruited into our program and the potential for successful careers.”

The winners included:

• Ali Dupree, junior graphic design major from Lawrenceville, for “Napier Heights Food Co-op Brand Identity”
• Landon Miller, junior graphic design major from Macon, for “Kinetic Typography”
• Emma Rose Bailey, junior marketing major and graphic design minor from Rome, for “Macon Beer Company Ready-to-Drink Packaging Design”
• Liz Carter, senior marketing major and graphic design minor from Tampa, Florida, for “Get Out the Vote Campaign Poster”
• Isabel Newberry, senior art major from Macon, for “Rainforest Alliance Poster Design”
• Cecelia Poehlman, senior creative writing and English double-major and graphic design minor from Madison, Alabama, for “Disinformed Editorial Layout”

“I am so proud of our outstanding art and design students and faculty,” said Craig Coleman, professor and chair of the Art Department. “They have worked hard, and this is a well-deserved honor.”

Graphic Design USA has sponsored competitions that spotlight areas of excellence and opportunity for creative professionals for the past 58 years.

The American Graphic Design Awards is the organization’s original and the flagship competition, open to everyone in the community and honoring outstanding work of all kinds and across all media. More than 10,000 entries were submitted this year, and only 10% were chosen as winners, recognized with a certificate, and will be featured in the GDUSA Design Awards Annual.

Mercer’s comprehensive graphic design major encourages the investigation of contemporary directions in art, imaging, and visual communication in a wide range of print and interactive media to aid students in developing a cohesive portfolio appropriate for the pursuit of graduate studies or professional practice. Theory, methodology, and industry-standard technology are studied and applied to prepare students for success in this continually evolving field of study.

About the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Mercer University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences serves as the academic cornerstone of one of America’s oldest and most distinctive institutions of higher learning. The oldest and largest of Mercer’s 12 schools and colleges, it is a diverse and vibrant community, enrolling more than 1,900 students, dedicated to learning and service through the practice of intellectual curiosity, respectful dialogue and responsible citizenry. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers majors in more than 30 areas of study, including more than a dozen pre-professional academic tracks, with classes taught by an outstanding faculty of scholars. In 2015, Mercer was awarded a chapter of The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society that recognizes exceptional achievement in the arts and sciences. For more information, visit liberalarts.mercer.edu.