Student work wins top honors in Online Journalism Awards competition

Recent Newhouse School graduate Kate Brennan ’22 is the winner in the Individual Student Portfolio category of the 2022 Online Journalism Awards competition. She was honored her in-depth multimedia reporting project, “Aloha ʻāina,”

Brennan spent two years developing the project, which tells the story of the ongoing debate between Native Hawaiians and the science community over a proposed large-scale telescope. In summer 2021, she traveled to Mauna Kea to interview individuals on both sides of the debate. During her senior year, she worked with communications design major Madeline Coyte and faculty members Shelvia Dancy and Jon Glass to create an engaging interactive digital story in conjunction with The NewsHouse. She completed the work as part of her Renée Crown Honors Program capstone project.

The win was announced today at the Online News Association’s annual conference in Los Angeles.

This is the second year in a row that the work of Newhouse students has been recognized by the Online Journalism Awards; The 61% Project earned the Student Team Portfolio honor in 2021.

Newhouse students win four NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards

The winners of the 2022 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Salute to Excellence Awards were announced Saturday night in Las Vegas. Newhouse students were nominated for six and won four awards for their work on Deconstructing the Divide, an enterprise reporting project produced by The NewsHouse in 2021.

WINNERS:

Digital Media – Undergraduate: Online Feature Reporting
“The Power of Social Media,” Nhari Djan

Digital Media: Best Use of Multimedia – Special Project
Deconstructing the Divide, Staff of Deconstructing the Divide

Digital Media – Undergraduate: Online Feature Reporting
“Our Poisoned Kids,” Sydney Gold

Photography (Graduate Only): Multiple Images
“Our Poisoned Kids,” Jessica Ruiz

“Our Poisoned Kids” also recently placed 2nd in the Student Reporting category of the Society of Environmental Journalists’ 21st annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment.

FINALISTS:

Digital Media – Graduate: Best Use of Multimedia – Special Project
“Visualizing 81,” Amanda Paule, Sonny Cirasuolo, Kevin Camelo, Molly Gibbs, Lawry Boyer

Photography (Graduate Only): Multiple Images
“Stepping Up for Justice,” Renée Deemer

In addition, alumna Gracyn Doctor G’20 won in the Radio – Top 15 Markets: Investigative category for “Student Loans Weigh Heavily on Black and Latino Borrowers in North Carolina,” for WFAE in Charlotte.

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Creative advertising students win two of 10 Communication Arts student awards given worldwide

The Newhouse School ranked as the second most awarded school internationally in the Communication Arts Advertising Annual 62, winning two out of the 10 student awards given and five Shortlists.

“The students at Newhouse continue to impress,” said alumnus Dan Lucey ’99, chief creative officer at Havas in New York City. “They consistently demonstrate clear and powerful thinking that translates into brand activations, social media executions, mobile apps, experiential, new technology integrations, out-of-home advertising and print.”

The winning campaigns were created in the creative advertising portfolio courses taught by professors of practice Kevin O’Neill and Mel White. Sam Luo, who created three of the winning campaigns, said the experience and mentorship of his professors helped him succeed both in and out of the classroom

“They both are so experienced in guiding students and young creatives into landing the best work of their lives,” Luo said. “They are very patient but give direct, honest feedback each round. They are not afraid to push students into becoming better craftsmen in the creative advertising field.”

The portfolio courses are designed to mirror the intensity of the creative advertising industry. Entering in competitions like the Communication Arts Advertising Annual awards helps students’ portfolios stand out when applying for jobs and internships.

“The advertising industry is a very competitive business, the creative end especially so,” O’Neill said. “Contending for awards in publications like Communication Arts hones our students’ competitive instincts and drives them to ever higher standards of excellence.”

“The students work hard in their creative advertising courses to create compelling ad campaigns, and these Communication Arts Advertising Awards and Shortlist Awards are an excellent outcome of that. The advertising industry has communicated that these students create award-winning work. And this goes a long way when interviewing for jobs.”

The two award winners in the Communication Arts Advertising Annual 62 were “Jeep Views,” created by Mike Gaines, and “McDelivery,” created by Luo. The campaigns are shown in the most recent November/December print and digital editions of Communications Arts’ international publication. 

“Both projects demonstrate a strategic understanding of the brand, brand assets and the need for simple communication in an era when we are dividing our attention between multiple screens,” Lucey said.

Gaines wanted to create a campaign that spoke to Jeep’s ruggedness and functionality.

“To Jeep owners, their vehicles are far more than just cars. They are a way of exploring and experiencing places previously unimaginable,” Gaines said.

One of Gaines biggest challenges was simply communicating Jeep’s ability to unlock new experiences for owners and drivers while keeping the company’s branding at the forefront. In Gaines’ campaign, Jeep’s signature grill became framing cutouts in billboards and print ads. Mountainous, snow-capped and desert landscapes peek through the grills ready to be explored behind the wheel of a Jeep.

For Gaines, the award affirmed he’d chosen the right career path. “It feels amazing to have my hard work, dedication and creativity celebrated by such a prestigious advertising competition. Even being considered in the running among so many other young creatives was an accomplishment to me,” he said.

Art director Luo won the other Communication Arts Advertising Annual award for his “McDelivery” campaign for McDonald’s. Luo wanted his campaign to highlight McDonald’s delivery service while fitting with the company’s signature brand. 

“I just have seen so many well-done, iconic McDonald’s campaigns over the years. Their brand voice is so clear and easy to understand,” Luo said. 

Luo focused on the insight that McDonald’s has one of the most comprehensive fast food delivery services worldwide, making it easy for customers to order their favorite meals. From there, Luo turned to his pencil to visually brainstorm his concept, using McDonald’s distinct branding as a guide.

“Writing down every nugget of an idea is crucial because that may build over time and spark even more thoughts,” Luo said. “Usually at that phase, I draw a lot of stuff and pick about a dozen ideas to further develop.”

To illustrate the company’s delivery service, Luo developed a print campaign featuring McDonald’s arches glowing in the night as they bounce off city streets into apartment windows. While the art direction came clearly to him, Luo said figuring out how to physically achieve his vision was challenging. 

“The execution took a really long time,” he said. “I tried different ways to bring the iconic golden arches to life, and in the end I landed on 3-D renderings, which took a while to figure out.”

“This award is one of the hardest awards to win in the industry because they give out such a limited amount,” he said. “Also the judges are really high-level creative directors and even executive creative directors, so having their support means the world.”

Five Newhouse creative advertising student campaigns earned Communication Arts Advertising Shortlist awards. 

Luo and partner copywriter Grace Curran worked on the shortlisted campaign “On Hold” (video) for WhatsApp, which focused on mental health. This integrated campaign addressed the high depression and anxiety levels among Generation Z and their connection to social media. 

“Sam and I were inspired by our own experiences as members of Gen Z,” Curran said. “We had a lot of discussions about anxiety and mental health as a whole and agreed that being tied to our phones was a root cause for many of the mental challenges we faced on an everyday basis.”

Luo and Curran decided to do the unexpected and turn to the technology in their phones for inspiration. “Obviously, it seems counterintuitive for a phone app like WhatsApp to tell people to take time away from their phones, but that’s what we liked about it,” Curran said. “It’s not only provocative, but also shows that they care and that, sure, sometimes what’s going on digitally is important, but what’s going on mentally is always going to be more important.”

“On Hold” uses mental health check-ins through facial recognition scans, signal-blocking “On Hold” towers and automatic away messages to help users who feel overwhelmed and anxious. The campaign also included streetwear printed with barcodes that, when scanned with a phone’s camera, took users to the WhatsApp On Hold app to find mental health support. Curran said Professor White and the team’s mentor Grant Mason, creative at Wieden+Kennedy in NYC at that time, encouraged them to create a fully integrated idea and stretch it as much as possible. 

“We were always taught to think big and to make our campaigns flow seamlessly, and mimicking shutting off our personal devices on a larger scale was definitely something we saw as a seamless strategic activation,” Curran said. 

“PAL: Protect Asian Lives” (video), created by art director Rachel Hayashi and copywriter Jessica Mastorides for Apple, was shortlisted.The pair received a brief to use new technology to address a real world problem. Hayashi and Mastorides’searched for an issue they both felt passionate about, which led to the creation of PAL, a campaign designed to address the sharp rise in violent anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the many unreported crimes.

“With a lot of these hateful incidents and violence against Asian Americans, unfortunately, a lot of cases cannot be proven as hate crimes or hate motivated,” Hayashi said. “There can be video footage, but sometimes if there’s not an audio recording as proof that it’s actually driven by hate against Asian Americans, it won’t be classified as a hate crime.”

The two researched new technologies and found location tracking software developed by Apple during the COVID-19 pandemic. When activated, PAL combines this location tracking software and voice-activation to monitor the user’s travels. If it detected any anti-Asian language, the Apple app would begin recording audio. PAL then uploaded this evidence and the location of the incident to a secure database that informed not only the nearest police station but also a Stop AAPI Hate organization for help.   

“When we were thinking about ways in which we could help the Asian community, we steered towards solutions that are already in their hands,” Mastorides said. “That’s why we thought immediately of using Apple and iPhones because everybody has iPhones, and it’s an easy way to have new technology right at your fingertips when you’re in any type of crisis.”

The pair was thrilled to see PAL get recognition at the Communication Arts Awards. “This one meant a lot. It was originally an assignment for our Portfolio III class, but then it quickly turned into a passion project for us,” Hayashi said. “Hopefully with this being shortlisted, and even just a few judges being able to see our thoughts and how we can address the issue, it can make not only the ‘solve’ more well known but also the actual issue.”

Art director Serena Maldonado and copywriter Marta Lala’s shortlisted “UoK?” (video) for the World Health Organization also focused on mental health. They created the phone app UoK? to help people when they are at their most vulnerable.

“We developed our campaign around the insight that people are often alone when they go through a manic episode and are left with just their phone to turn to,” Maldonado said.

When a user engages with unusual phone behavior associated with mental health crises, such as sudden increases in online shopping, faster typing, web searches specific to depressive thoughts and ignored messages and calls, the app would trigger a simple notification asking if the user is ok. If the user selects “I am not ok,” the app would open a screen detailing the user’s unusual behavior and connect them with important tools such as a chatbot to express their feelings,  mindfulness exercises and call buttons for mental health professionals and crisis hotlines.

The team turned to feedback from their target audience and market space research to figure out what was lacking or simply not working in other mental health apps. 

“We were designing an app to help users with mental illness, knowing well that an improperly designed app could have adverse effects,” Maldonado said. “We had to think about UI/UX design, which is something we hadn’t worked on previously, while trying to provide a virtual safe space as a resource to our target audience.”

Maldonado said their creative advertising professors made themselves available to give feedback on their campaign. The professors asked tough questions and constantly pushed the team to go further with their campaign.

“The Newhouse portfolio classes helped me to understand what good creative looks like. It taught me that in order to come up with a good idea you need to look at the problem from every angle before moving forward with any kind of execution or layout,” she said.

“CashCan” (video) for Coca-Cola was shortlisted for its innovation around greener practices. “People are growing more environmentally conscious every day, and any opportunity to make their lives easier, quicker, faster and cheaper while doing so is a golden space to be explored,” copywriter Joseph Cutuli said.

Cutuli and art director Maia Baptista wanted to address the growing number of Coca-Cola cans and bottles piling up in landfills. “CashCan” incentivizes Coca-Cola product users to recycle using accessible, branded, high-tech recycling bins linked to Apple Pay. Consumers toss their empty Coca-Cola product bottles and cans into designated CashCans, which would be conveniently located on street corners. The recycling bin would scan the items’ barcodes and transfer money to the user’s bank account using Apple Pay. Figuring out how to implement contactless payment options into the CashCan proved a major challenge for the team, but they knew it was an important component of their idea. 

“People want to feel like they are making a difference in the environment, but people also want to feel like their time is well spent, and they want to get something out of something, one way or the other,” Cutuli said.

Cutuli credits the attention and dedication of his Newhouse professors White and O’Neill and mentors in helping the team craft a shortlisted campaign. “From guidance on the idea, target audience and art direction to final critiques on the script, they were present every step of the way,” he said.

Luo also won a Shortlist award for “Go Wild”, a print campaign for Jeep. “Go Wild” showcased Jeep’s adaptability and adventurous spirit on any terrain. By zooming in on wild animals, zebra stripes and giraffe spots, the animal prints became roads for Jeeps to explore. 

A complete list of Communication Arts Advertising Annual 62, Winners and Shortlists can be found below:

Katherine Kiessling G’22 is a graduate of the Goldring arts journalism and communications program at the Newhouse School.

Creative advertising students break another record with 26 wins in the New York Festivals Advertising Awards competition

Creative advertising students won eight finalist awards and 18 shortlist awards in the New York Festivals Advertising Awards competition for a total of 26, an impressive increase from the previous year’s total of nine. Newhouse had the fifth most wins of advertising schools worldwide, and the third most in U.S. wins.

“I continue to be blown away by the level of thinking coming out of Newhouse, so it’s no surprise to me that they are still crushing it in the shows,” says Newhouse advertising alumnus Ari Halper ’92, global head of creative excellence at R/GA in NYC. “Work like ‘Greenscreen,’ ‘Have It The Real Way,’ ‘McDelivery’ and ‘uTINTsil’ are all as strong as anything in our industry, which makes me extremely excited to see what happens once this talent graduates into the workforce.”

“I am consistently impressed with the work of our creative advertising students,” says Newhouse dean Mark J. Lodato. “The level of accomplishment at the New York Festivals is outstanding and emblematic of the talent and hard work of our students and the faculty who teach and guide them.”

The award-winning work came from Portfolio II and Portfolio III courses in the advertising creative track, taught by professors of practice Mel White and Kevin O’Neill.

“I look at these campaigns and know how hard our creative advertising students worked on them,” White says. “To have the New York Festivals award so many of our creative advertising student campaigns is very rewarding. It makes all of the trips the students made back to the drawing board worth it.”

Rachel Hayashi, art director, and Jessica Mastorides, copywriter, won two finalist awards at New York Festivals. In the Positive World Impact category, they won for their digital Apple campaign, “PAL / Protect Asian Lives” (video). The brief asked the creatives to use new technology to solve a real-world problem. Since the pandemic started, there has been a rise in the U.S. of racist violence against Asian Americans—at least 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents since March 2020. Mastorides says constantly hearing about this surge of violent anti-Asian attacks showed the team the real-world problem they wanted to solve.

“We both felt passionate about this issue, and have friends who were personally impacted by it, so we wanted to create an innovative solution to stop Asian hate,” Mastorides says. “We did a ton of research on Asian communities and the struggles they face, specifically in relation to reporting crimes against them. We found that Asian Americans don’t feel comfortable self-reporting crimes against them, which leads to massive underreporting. Not only that, but the justice system requires hard evidence to convict a hate crime, which makes it impossible for most victims to prove it in court.”

Mastorides says the team knew their solution not only had to allow Asian Americans to easily and comfortably report harassment, but it also had to collect evidence for them as well to identify the true scope of the hate crimes. They came up with the idea for a feature on iPhones that makes reporting harassment easily accessible. When leaving the house, users will be prompted to turn on PAL and allow it to track their location. If any anti-Asian language or slurs are detected while in use, PAL will begin discreetly recording audio, upload all evidence to a secure database and report the incident to the nearest police station as well as an advocate from the organization Stop AAPI Hate.

“Once we fully understood the scope of the problem, it was just a matter of figuring out how the technology can be used to solve it,” Mastorides says. “We realized voice activation has the ability to listen in if it hears certain phrases, so if there’s any anti-Asian language being used then your iPhone can automatically start recording audio as soon as it hears it. This was the basis of our idea, so then we started to think of ways to expand it with other existing iPhone technologies like location services and secure databases. Overall it was a lot of looking into how these technologies work and how we can solve anti-Asian discrimination with it.”

In the Avant-Garde/Innovative category, Hayashi and Mastorides won for their Burger King campaign “Have It The Real Way” (video). This campaign was one of eight winners worldwide in the category. “Have It The Real Way” celebrates Burger King’s use of 100% real ingredients by making their advertising just as real, avoiding the styling used to make burgers look unrealistically perfect in ads. They also included the Burger King app in the campaign, using it to airdrop flyers onto McDonald’s customers’ phones enticing them to take a photo of the competitor’s burger to receive a Burger King discount. Google Lens technology would recognize the McDonald’s burger, find its perfect-looking ad counterpart and then compare the two and calculate the percentage difference, giving the customer the percentage of savings for their Burger King meal.

Sam Luo, art director, and Grace Curran, copywriter, won a finalist award in the Outdoor category for their Duolingo campaign “Pardon Our French” (video). The campaign was one of six winners worldwide in the category. The team used the insight that young people find learning a new language boring. Luo and Curran found an interesting and interactive way to get Gen Z interested by learning swear words in multiple languages. They would place scannable stickers of the Duolingo owl next to graffiti with “colorful” language around London. When a user scans the QR code on a sticker, it would take them to a page that translates the swear word into a variety of languages. The page would also show them clues so they can find other stickers in the area and continue their language learning journey.

Luo and Olivia Gormley, copywriter, won a finalist award in the Positive World Impact category for their digital campaign for Connect4Climate “Greenscreen” (video). The team created the concept of an Amazon search filter that prioritizes eco-friendly products over disposable or single-use items in the search results when activated.

Luo also won in the Print category for his “McDelivery” McDonald’s campaign. “McDelivery” was one of three winners in the category worldwide.

Marta Lala, copywriter, and Cerinn Park, art director, won a finalist award in the Positive World Impact category for their new P&G product “uTINTsil” (video). They found that one in 13 children has a food allergy in the U.S. and risk suffering an allergen attack due to accidental cross-contamination in food. Their solution would be plastic utensils that change color after coming in contact with specific allergen proteins detected in food, signaling that the food is unsafe to eat.

Brian Chau, art director, and Shaoli Yusaf, copywriter, won a finalist award in the Positive World Impact category for their digital Google Nest campaign “ARI, Defending the Rights of Immigrants” (video). Chau and Yusaf note that the growing prevalence of ICE raids and the spread of violence towards immigrant communities inspired them to create the concept of the ARI app. ARI would be a home assistant that works with Google Nest’s security system to notify homeowners of approaching ICE agents. In the app, immigrants can review their rights and speak to agents through ARI without opening their door. After an encounter with ICE, home occupants can confirm their safety in the app as well.

Derek Rosen, copywriter, won a finalist award in the Audio/Radio category for his “Noticeable Benefits” (Radio campaign) for Michelin. He found that people often don’t want to pay the extra money for Michelin tires, thinking they only have minor improvements over other tires. He decided to incorporate the brand’s benefits into something people experience in everyday life: music. Using three different songs with lyrics about stopping, Rosen lengthened the verse to show that with other tires, your car might take longer to stop when compared to Michelin tires. He says creating a campaign that worked without visuals was an enriching challenge.

“Crafting an idea using only words and sounds is extremely challenging and requires a high level of creativity,” Rosen says. “However, that also means that creating an effective radio ad is that much more rewarding and impressive. I find that radio is one of the most relatable forms of advertising because it forces you to utilize sounds that all audiences can recognize and relate to.”
The reactions his campaign received were part of what originally made him want to enter it into the competition.

“Whenever I showed my classmates, they wouldn’t just compliment it, they would smile and laugh,” Rosen says. “I truly believe that the best ads are the ones that make an audience feel something, so their reactions gave me the confidence that it was an effective campaign.”

In addition to the eight finalists, 18 campaigns by Newhouse creative advertising students won shortlist awards from New York Festivals.
In the Positive World Impact category, nine creative teams won shortlist awards. Kelsi Ryan, art director, and Chloe Greenwald, copywriter, won for their digital Apple and GLAAD campaign, “Deadnaming.” Luo and Curran won for their integrated WhatsApp campaign “On Hold” (video). Olivia DeLorenzo, copywriter, and Mike Gaines, art director, won for their integrated Nike+ campaign, “#Shutout” (video). Sierra Outcalt, art director, and Clare Coey, copywriter, won for their digital campaign “Beam” (video) for Apple. Maia Baptista, art director, and Joe Cutuli, copywriter, won for their digital campaign “Cashcan” (video) for Coca-Cola. Selin Akywrek, copywriter, and Amelia Lytle, art director, won for their experiential campaign “Draft the Future” (video) for Budweiser. Zan Buoy, copywriter, and Xinran Xiao, art director, won for their digital Connect4Climate idea, “Size 4Climate Body Scanner.” (video) Katie Volkomer, art director, and Chloe Martin, copywriter, won for their integrated campaign “The Drop” (video) for Tampax. Eric Storms, copywriter, and Max Guo, art director, won for their Walmart digital idea, “Zero Waste App” (video).

In the Avant-Garde/Innovative category, three Newhouse creative teams won shortlist awards. Zach Driscoll, copywriter, and Tom Ciaccio, art director, won for their experiential Penguin Books campaign “ARG (Alternate Reality Game) Novels” (video). Sarah Sek, art director, and Jessica Miranda, copywriter, won for their augmented reality idea “Infinicoaster” (video) for LEGO. Ben Lin, art director, and Charley Karchin, copywriter, won for their new product idea “The Assuring Collection” (video) for Tiffany & Co.
In the Digital/Mobile category, Newhouse students won three shortlist awards. Rosen and Joyee Lin, art director, won for their mobile campaign “Rumble Detector” (video) for Burger King. Joseph Deblasio, art director, and Alyssa Loffredo, copywriter, won for their integrated LEGO campaign “Legofy” (video). Allison Scherger, art director, and Charles Beeby, copywriter, won for their integrated Spotify campaign “Spotify My Ride” (video).

Volkomer and Martin also won in the Digital & Collateral category for their integrated campaign “Raise a Glass to the One That Raised You” (video) for Budweiser. In the same category, Lytle and Camille Lavoie, copywriter, won for their integrated Burger King campaign, “Truth Whopper” (video). Chau and Alye Chaisson, copywriter, won in the Outdoor category for their Spotify campaign, “Drive into Your Daily Drive” (video).

Samantha Savery ’21 is a graduate of the Newhouse School’s Goldring arts journalism and communications program, and Katie Kiessling is currently a student in the program.

Student work earns MOEy, national wins in SPJ Mark of Excellence awards competition

Newhouse students made a stellar showing in this year’s Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Mark of Excellence awards competition.

The student  immersive media project “Visualizing 81” earned the MOEy Award, which is given to the top entry among all national Mark of Excellence award winners. There were more than 3,000 entries this year, according to SPJ Foundation President Irwin Gratz. “[The students’] work on the impact highway planning has on communities of color inspired the judges to comment that this was a strong story, and the telling included fantastic use of interactive components, archival material and other multiplatform elements—even mini-podcasting and 360 technology,” Gratz said.

Newhouse students also took home two national wins, and five others were finalists.

NATIONAL WINNERS: 

Breaking News Photography
TJ Shaw, “Racial Reckoning” (Deconstructing the Divide)

Immersion Journalism
Staff, “Visualizing 81”

NATIONAL FINALISTS: 

Independent Online Student Publication
Staff, “Upstate Unearthed”

Use of Multimedia
Staff, “Visualizing 81”

Broadcast/Online Sports Videography
Annie Boos, “The Comeback Year” (Sports Media Center/The NewsHouse)

General News Photography (Large)
Gavin Liddell, “Candlelight vigil” (The NewsHouse)

Radio News Reporting
Sydney Gold, “Our Poisoned Kids” (Deconstructing the Divide/WAER)

“This contest truly places our student work among the best in college journalism from this past year as the awards are narrowed down from thousands of entries to 12 regional winners who then compete for winner and one or two runners-up in each category,” says Jon Glass, professor of practice of magazine, news and digital journalism and executive producer of The NewsHouse.

Honorees will be recognized this October at the MediaFest22 conference in Washington, D.C.

Read the full announcement

Newhouse student, recent graduates earn honors at Hearst Journalism Awards National Championships

A record number of Newhouse School students and recent graduates competed in the Hearst Journalism Awards National Championships this past week in San Francisco with two earning Top 3 honors and one earning an additional special award.  

From left: John Perik, Christopher Cicchiello, Moriah Humiston and Abigal Weiss

Abigail Weiss ’22 was recognized with a $1,000 award for Best Reporting Technique. She also placed 3rd in the Writing division and earned a $5,000 scholarship for multiple articles she wrote during the competition with four other student journalists. Weiss secured her place in the five-day national contest by earning 1st Place in the Profile/Personality monthly competition for her Daily Orange feature about President Biden’s first wife, Neilia.

Moriah Humiston ’22 placed 3rd in the Television division, earning a $5,000 scholarship for reporting and producing broadcast stories during the five-day contest. Earlier this year, Humiston was top winner in the Television Features category for video stories on COVID-19 testing at Syracuse University and a bocce community in Rome, New York.

Joining them as national finalists were Christopher Cicchiello ’22, who was the 1st Place winner in Hearst’s Sports Writing contest, and broadcast and digital journalism sophomore John Perik, who competed in the Television division. Each were awarded $1,500 scholarships.

This year’s four finalists marked the most Newhouse School students ever participating in the annual championships for what are considered “the Pulitzers of college journalism.”

For the year, 10 undergraduate students and projects had Top 20 finishes, giving the Newhouse School a 5th place finish among the 103 accredited university communications programs nationally. Newhouse placed 3rd in both the Writing and Audio & Television divisions and was awarded $2,000 prizes for each. Also, Newhouse placed 7th in the Multimedia division.

Alumnus Larry Kramer ’72 (right) and Newhouse dean Mark Lodato (third from left) join Hearst competitors Christopher Cicchiello, Moriah Humiston, Abigail Weiss and John Perik at the competition in San Francisco.

Creative advertising students raked in an astounding 195 awards in one year, setting a new school record

Creative advertising students at the Newhouse School set the program record by winning an impressive 195 awards in one year.

“What most impressed me about the awards the Newhouse creative advertising students won was not the amount but the range,” says Taras Wayner, former chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson in New York and an alumnus of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “The design and clarity of the ideas covered the complete spectrum of modern media solutions that will attract the attention of every agency in the world.”

“I’m so proud of all of our creative advertising students, who can use these opportunities to show what they have learned, and more importantly, what they can take to industry. This is a wonderful way to spotlight their creative advertising work as well as the level of education you get here at the Newhouse School,” says Mark J. Lodato, dean of the Newhouse School. 

“The Newhouse advertising department is uniquely positioned to ensure that our students succeed at the highest levels,” Lodato says. “There is a wonderful mix of faculty with deep, professional experience and some strong scholars who bring an additional level of research and innovation. Together that makes for a very powerful curriculum and support system for our students to be able to perform so well at these national and even international competitions and in the industry.”

“It’s an amazing achievement that creative students have won 195 awards within a year,” says James Tsao, chair of the advertising department. “Only one word could summarize the remarkable achievement—pride!”  

All award-winning work was created in the Portfolio I, II and III courses taught by professors Mel White and Kevin O’Neill as part of the creative advertising track. Students in those courses are training as art directors and copywriters. 

At the One Show Young Ones Brief competition, the Burger King campaign created by art director/copywriter team Rachel Hayashi and Jessica Mastorides, “Have it the Real Way” (video), earned one of the most prestigious advertising awards: Newhouse’s first Silver Pencil. The humorous campaign flaunted real Burger King food in its imperfect glory through posters featuring floppy cheese and smushed buns and clear sandwich packaging to show the always real, never fake food. The campaign even capitalized on Burger King’s rivalry with McDonald’s. Using AirDrop, McDonald’s customers were prompted to scan their burger in the Burger King app. Then, Google Lens would search for McDonald’s ad and calculate the percent difference between the actual burger and the way too perfect-looking one in the ad. The percentage became a whopping Burger King discount for the customer.  

“Have it the Real Way” campaign by Rachel Hayashi and Jessica Mastorides for Burger King

Newhouse earned two additional One Show Young Ones Brief awards. Art director/copywriter team Brian Chau and Alye Chaisson received a merit award for their Spotify campaign, “Drive into Your Daily Drive” (video), which evolved Spotify’s “Daily Drive” commuting playlists for road trips in response to the sharp drop in commuting during the Covid-19 pandemic. Next to a state’s “Welcome to” sign, digital billboards display a song selected by a famous musician born in the state and airdrops the celebrity’s curated “Daily Drive” playlist to your phone for a one-of-a-kind road trip experience.

Art director Sam Luo’s WhatsApp “On Hold” (video) earned a shortlist award for its innovative integration of mental health and technology through cell-blocking “On Hold” towers in high stress areas, automatic away messages and mental health scans through facial recognition. The campaign also included streetwear printed with barcodes that, when scanned, would take users to the WhatsApp On Hold app for mental health support.

The One Show Young Ones ADC competition earned Newhouse the coveted Silver Cube, another program first. Art director/copywriter team Sarah Sek and Jessica Miranda created the award-winning LEGO campaign “Infinicoaster”(video). The interactive campaign combined digital and physical play with a LEGO set that allows kids to build and experience the roller coaster of their dreams. Hi-tech bricks outfitted with ultrasonic sensors allow kids to ride their coaster creations on the LEGO phone app using virtual reality.

Newhouse also received three merit awards at One Show Young Ones ADC. Art director/copywriter team Cerinn Park and Marta Lala won for P&G “uTINTsil” (video), a set of color-changing utensils for kids designed to detect different allergens in food for a safer lunchtime. Kelsi Ryan and Chloe Greenwald, an art director/copywriter team, were awarded for Apple x Glaad “Deadnaming” (video), an Apple software update that adds preferred pronouns to contacts and uses AI to autocorrect digital deadnaming and misgendering. Luo’s “McDelivery” earned the third merit award.

The record-setting continued at the Clio Awards, where Newhouse ranked among the top five most-awarded schools worldwide, winning a record-breaking five Clio awards. Luo earned four of the five awards including a Bronze Clio for “McDelivery.”

In Luo’s print campaign, the famous McDonald’s golden arches swoop through late-night cityscapes to land in apartment windows, showing off McDonald’s delivery service. 

Luo also won Clio shortlists for Hermes “The Silk Definition,” capturing the luxury of the brand’s signature scarves through sweeping landscapes crafted by silk, and Jeep “Go Wild,” mimicking adventurous landscapes through extreme close-ups of zebra stripes and giraffe spots for Jeeps to explore. Luo and copywriter Olivia Gormley secured another Clio shortlist with Amazon + Connect4Climate “Amazon Greenscreen” (video), an integrated campaign featuring an Amazon search filter that displays eco-friendly products; an in-app camera scanner to find more sustainable alternatives to everyday products; and a scoring system to track personal progress towards a greener lifestyle. 

Sam Luo’s “Go Wild” campaign for Jeep

Maia Baptista and Joe Cutuli, art director / copywriter team, won a Clio Shotlist with their Coca-Cola “Cashcan” (video). The idea was created during a 10-minute brainstorming exercise in the Portfolio III course. The duo’s concept focused on helping the Coca-Cola company incentivize its consumers to recycle its products by creating high-tech CashCan recycling bins conveniently placed on city blocks. These bins would scan bottles’ barcodes and, using Apple Pay, transfer money into the user’s bank account.

Newhouse students took home three gold National ADDY awards. Luo earned two of the three gold awards. Luo and Gormley won for the “A Step Behind” campaign for Girls Who Code which emphasized the need for STEM education among young girls. In the campaign, various race tracks are shown with one lane’s start line set behind the rest. This racing position, paired with taglines like, “Behind before she even started,” conveys the disadvantages girls face when they aren’t given opportunities to explore STEM skills at a young age. 

Luo’s second National ADDY gold was for “Go in Deep,” a print ad campaign for Oral-B Glide Floss featuring a scuba diver, mountain climber and parachuter traveling between two massive teeth to show just how deep the floss can go. 

Art director Allison Scherger won a National ADDY gold award for her “Decibullz Earplugs” campaign. Scherger’s ads feature people wielding common noisemakers, like trumpets and chainsaws, scaled to miniature size with the tagline, “Minimize big sounds.” 

Allison Scherger’s campaign for Decibullz

At the Golden Award of Montreux, Luo won one of only five Gold Awards given worldwide to students and was the only student award winner from the U.S. He won for his “McDelivery” campaign.

At the Communication Arts Advertising awards, Newhouse students won four of the 18 awards worldwide. Newhouse also earned three shortlists.  Luo and Gormley won two of the awards for their “A Step Behind” and “Greenscreen” campaigns. Luo also received an award for “Go Deep.” Park and Lala earned the fourth award for P&G “uTINTsil.” The four award-winning campaigns were also featured in the Communication Arts Advertising Annual November/December 2020 issue.

Luo received one out of only 11 Communication Arts Student Showcase awards given globally. Three of his campaigns were featured in the Communication Arts March/April 2021 issue.

Newhouse was the fifth most-awarded school out of advertising schools worldwide at the New York Festivals Advertising Awards. Students earned 26 awards, consisting of eight finalists and 18 shortlists, shattering the previous Newhouse record of nine awards. 

Seven Newhouse campaigns earned awards at the Lürzers International Archive Students Contest. Six winners were published in the international publication and one additional campaign was pre-selected.

At the Graphis New Talent awards, Newhouse won the most awards out of all schools worldwide, dominating the competition. Newhouse earned 74 student awards for their print and outdoor and video advertising with three platinum awards, 19 gold, 27 silver and 25 honorable mentions.

Newhouse creative advertising students took home 13 awards at Creativity International, one of the first female owned and operated advertising award shows in the industry. Students won one Platinum, three Gold, five Silver and four Bronze awards.

Ads of the World, part of the Clios network, selected and published 20 Newhouse campaigns.

The Newhouse School won the most awards overall in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Best of Design, Advertising Division. Each school was allowed five entries, and the five Newhouse campaigns won six awards total: Judge’s Choice and Second Place for “Girls Who Code”; Third Place for “Have It the Real Way”; Best in Experiential for “CashCan”; Best in Print for “McDelivery”; and Best in Interactive and Social Media for “Protect Asian Lives PAL”(video) for Apple by Mastorides and Hayashi.

Complete list of 195 creative advertising awards won by Newhouse students in the 2020-2021 school year:

Katherine Kiessling is a graduate student in the arts journalism and communications program at the Newhouse School.

Students, student work win at annual Syracuse Press Club Awards Dinner

Syracuse Press Club Awards Dinner May 7. Collectively, they earned 17 1st Place prizes in many student and professional categories.

Also, broadcast and digital journalism senior Moriah Humiston won the $2,000 Devestry-Williams Scholarship as the top student journalist from Central New York, while WAER General Manager Chris Bolt was recognized with the 2022 SPC Professional Standards Award.

STUDENT AWARDS

Radio/Podcast News Story
2nd Place: “Our Poisoned Kids,” Sydney Gold (Deconstructing the Divide)

Radio/Podcast Feature Story
1st Place: “A team effort to help the homeless in New York City,” Nicole Aponte (NCC News)
2nd Place: “Personal Taste,” Abby Fritz (The NewsHouse)

Best Use of Multimedia
1st Place: “Deconstructing the Divide,” Deconstructing the Divide Staff
2nd Place: “Upstate Unearthed,” Upstate Unearthed Staff

Print/Digital News Story
1st Place: “Visualizing 81,” Amanda Paule (Deconstructing the Divide)
2nd Place: “Syracuse grapples with COVID one year later,” The NewsHouse Staff (The NewsHouse)
Honorable Mention: “Social Media Support,” Nhari Djan (Deconstructing the Divide)

Print/Digital Feature Story
1st Place: “Underrepresented on the Road,” Nhari Djan (Upstate Unearthed)
2nd Place: “Welcome to the COVID Rush of Seeds, Weeds & Foraged Leaves,” Vivian Whitney (Upstate Unearthed)
Honorable Mention: “Honey the neighbors are bullying us on Facebook again,” Eleanor Quarles (The NewsHouse)

Print/Digital Sports Story
1st Place: “Why Doesn’t SU pay Otto the Oranges,” Christopher Cicchellio (The NewsHouse)
2nd Place: “The rise and fall of Syracuse’s northeast recruiting base,” Connor Smith (The Daily Orange)
Honorable Mention: “Don’t Use the F-word When You Talk Disc Golf,” Dominick Pfisterer (Upstate Unearthed)
Honorable Mention: “Syracuse’s defense is forcing turnovers and flipping momentum,” Dean Zulkofske (The NewsHouse)

Television/Video News Story
1st Place: “Syracuse Students Perform Impromptu Rooftop Concert,” Ricky Sayer (CitrusTV)
2nd Place: “Restaurant Workers Left Off Vaccine Eligibility List,” Ricky Sayer (NCC News)

Television/Video Feature Story
Honorable Mention: “Where do Syracuse’s COVID-19 tests go?,” Moriah Humiston (NCC News)
1st Place: “Holiday,” Gloria Lepko, Bethanie Ryan (The NewsHouse)
2nd Place: “At 87, a Retired Syracuse University Professor Still Works to Leave a Lasting Legacy,” Ricky Sayer (NCC News)

Television/Video Sports Story
1st Place: “The Comeback Year,” Annie Boos (The NewsHouse/Sports Media Center)

PHOTOGRAPHY

Carl Single Award for Spot News Photography
2nd Place: The Stand Newspaper, “March for Justice for I-81,” Mike Greenlar

Feature Photo
1st Place: “Fighting Food Insecurity,” Zachary J. Krahmer (Deconstructing the Divide)
2nd Place: “Rip the Runway,” Max Mimaroglu (The NewsHouse)

Photo Essay
1st Place: “Welcome to the Spot,” Gavin Liddell (Upstate Unearthed)
Honorable Mention: “For the Win,” TJ Shaw (Deconstructing the Divide)

Portrait
2nd Place: The Stand Newspaper, Photo Walk, Lisa Salisbury Hackley

Sports Photo
1st Place: “Flying High,” Isaiah Vazquez (The NewsHouse)
2nd Place: “Reflecting on a Win,” Isaiah Vazquez (The NewsHouse)

PRINT

Front Page Design
2nd Place: The Stand Newspaper, Ashley Kang, Kevin Camelo Bonilla

Spot News
1st Place: The Stand Newspaper, “First Pop-Up COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Held in the South Side,” Violet Lazarus

Column
2nd Place: The Stand Newspaper, “Homegrown Opera,” Reggie Seigler
Honorable Mention: The Stand Newspaper, “Opinion: Gerrypandering,” Jeff Kramer

PRINT NON-DAILY

Sports Story
2nd Place: The Stand Newspaper, “The Darkness Before Light,” Kambui Bomani

News Feature or Series
1st Place: The Stand Newspaper, “One in 10 Syracuse Children Have Elevated Blood Lead Levels,” Sydney Gold

Human Interest Feature or Series
2nd Place: The Stand Newspaper, “Speaking Their Love Language,” Marnie Munoz

RADIO/PODCASTS

Human Interest Feature or Series
1st Place: WAER 88.3FM, “Syracuse Neighborhood Food Pantry Needs More Space,” Katie Zilcosky

Spot News
2nd Place: WAER 88.3FM, “Swift Reactions to Jan 6th insurrection at US Capitol from local representatives, law experts,” Chris Bolt

Investigative Story or Series
1st Place: WAER 88.3FM, “Why are COVID Vaccinations Lagging in Certain Communities?,” Chris Bolt

News Feature or Series
1st Place: WAER 88.3FM, “Syracuse School Resource Officers; Necessary?,” Katie Zilcosky

Sports Show
2nd Place: WAER 88.3FM, SportsNight Basketball Preview, Matt Bonaparte, Ben Shulman

Sports Story
1st Place: WAER 88.3FM, “The Portal,” Calvin Christoforo

Typographic Design students win 30 awards in international competition

When junior Lauren Brennan opened Adobe Illustrator to work on a project designing stamps for the Typographic Design class taught by Claudia Strong, she barely knew the software. Despite that, for the first time since the beginning of the class, she felt she had the creative skills to complete the assignment.

As the only design minor in the class, Brennan experienced “imposter syndrome” at first. She had only taken the Introduction to Graphic Design class, and that was remote. When she started the Typographic Design class, she wasn’t sure how to approach the design process. Midway through the class, however, she was confident enough in her design skills to know that even if she didn’t fully understand the software, she could design something great.

And she did. Her stamp series, “Fashion Forward,” which highlighted the fashion contributions of Lupita Nyongo, Michelle Obama, Naomi Campbell and Diana Ross, won gold in the Graphis New Talent Annual 2022 competition.

Lauren Brennan won Gold in the Graphis New Talent Annual 2022 competition for her stamp series, “Fashion Forward.”

“The whole class and especially this project pushed me to do many things that, honestly, I didn’t think I was capable of with the skillset that I was going in with,” she says “But it’s definitely rewarding now to see that the hard work pays off.”

Brennan’s gold was one of 30 awards won by students in Strong’s Typographic Design class, including two golds, 10 silvers and 18 honorable mentions. It’s a particularly impressive achievement because the competition is international and run by one of the world’s most prestigious publishers in design, advertising, photography and annuals. Students won for a variety of class projects, from brochures to typeface design.

Brennan says the class was pivotal in her understanding of design. While the sheer amount of projects seemed daunting at first, she says they each challenged her in a new way and built upon each other to give her a better understanding of what the design process looks like as a whole.

Strong chose to assign each project with specific goals in mind, like challenging students to work on a small scale in the stamp project or understand the intricacies of typefaces after designing their own. She says the class reflects the goals of the visual communications curriculum at the Newhouse School.

“Rather than forcing students into a pre-determined mold, we encourage all of our students to lean into their interests and instincts and strengths while coursing through the curriculum,” Strong says. “Our goal is to develop curious, adaptable thinkers who harness their individual vision to produce unique professional-level work.”

Sophomore Angelo Garufi, the other gold-winning student in the class, says that without these high expectations, he probably would not have been able to produce that quality of work. At the end of the class, when he revisited his first assignment to revise it for the final portfolio, he could see how much he had improved as a designer.

Angelo Garufi won Gold in the Graphis New Talent Annual 2022 competition for his stamp series, “Smallest U.S. Capitals.”

“It was a rigorous class. I learned a lot and I enjoyed it,” Garufi says. “We were held to a high standard, so we made high-quality work.”

Brennan agrees that the pressure to produce professional-caliber work was motivating, particularly because she knew Strong believed she could produce work at that level.

“It’s nice to have someone pushing you because that means they know that you are capable of what they are asking you to do,” Brennan says. “I think just having professors around you that are constantly encouraging you to do things or giving you advice [is] reassuring, that they trust that you have the capability.”

For Strong, submitting students’ work to the Graphis competition is all about showing students how capable they really are.

“I want these young design students to know that good work gets noticed, that hard work pays off, that they are talented, and that their future is at hand,” Strong says. “Placing at any level is a tremendous confidence boost and comes just in time to confirm their decision to become designers and propel them into the rest of their career here at Newhouse and beyond.”

Elizabeth Kauma is a senior in the magazine program at the Newhouse School.

2022 Newhouse School Awards

Each spring, the Newhouse School recognizes those students whose dedication, ingenuity, academic excellence and creativity exhibit extraordinary talent and effort.

2022 Syracuse University Scholars

Ghael Fobes Mora

Thomas J. Shaw

2022 Newhouse Class Marshals

Chelsea B. Stern

Morgan C. Tucker

2022 Newhouse Scholars

Angelique Bey

Ghael Fobes Mora

Emma Folts

Ethan Garcia

Isabelle Hong

Priscilla Kang

Katie Lane

Jillian Leveille

Emily Lyons

Amanda Paule

Thomas J. Shaw

Cole Strong

2022 Graduate Master’s Prize

Maya Abrams

Emily Apple

Thomas Edson

Michael Fedczuk

Catalina Gaitán

Sherman Patrick Hardy

Katie Hopsicker

Katie Kiessling

Josh Kim

Nia Lucky

Rebecca Meluch

Kaitlin Parisi

Tatum Partrich

Eliana Pietras

Haytham Saqr

Morgan Scott

Rosalie Stevens

James Year

Mary Zoretski Key Award

Amanda Paule

Dean’s Service Award

Candice Bina

Priscilla Kang

Moriah Humiston

Zoe Selesi

Gaurav Shetty  

Newhouse First-Year Achievement Award

Jada Knight

Advertising Awards

Harry d. Meyers Memorial Prize in Advertising

Greta Hartwyk

Maya Tsimmer

Deborah Fink Green Award

Eleanor Bilodeau

Daphne Nydam

Brian Chau

Most Promising Advertising Student

Alexandra Schneider

Advertising Department Award for Academic Excellence

Victoria Lin

Emma Michelson

Ryan Peiffer

Allison Scherger

Advertising Student of the Year

Rachel Kanter

Bandier Awards

Bandier Program Innovator/Operator Award

Colleen O’brien

Bandier Program Leadership Award

Noa Getzug

Juliette Milber

Broadcast and Digital Journalism Awards

Don Edwards Broadcast Journalism Award

Moriah Humiston

Daniel Wood

Radio-TV-News Power Producer Award

Katie Lane

Beth Mowins ’90 Award in Broadcast Journalism

Jenna Elique

Magazine, News and Digital Journalism Awards

Bob Heisler Award For Excellence

Amanda Paule

Henry J. Wolff Memorial Prize

Emma Folts

Heather L. Fleischman Memorial Scholarship

Sarah Allesandrini

Tolu Fajolu

Margaret Hicks    

Brittany Miller

Maria Riccardi Scholarship

Ashley Clemens

Zoe Glasser

Ava Hu

Emily Steinburger

Magazine, News And Digital Journalism Graduate Achievement Award

Josh Kim

Calvin Milliner

Emma Vallelunga

Henry J. Leader Memorial Prize

Megan Aprill

Shivani Manjunath

Bianca Pineda

Samuel V. Kennedy III Award For Newspaper Editing

Andrew Crane

Emma Folts 

Amanda Kraynack

Charnice Milton Award For Excellence In Community Journalism

Adrianna Adame

Calvin Milliner

William Glavin Award For Excellence In Magazine Writing

Christopher Cicchiello

Sydney Gold

Shivani Manjunath

John Mitchell Award for Sports Reporting

Roshan Fernandez

Lauretta H. McCaffrey Journalism Prize And Newhouse Award For Journalism Excellence

Ghael Fobes

Morgan Tucker

Public Relations Awards

Public Relations Certificate of Achievement

David Halbert

Annalise Silkaitis

William Doescher Award for the Outstanding Public Relations Master’s Degree Student

Annalise Silkaitis

William P. Ehling Award

Chelsea B. Stern

Public Relations Department Chair Award for Leadership

Daniel Davis

Mengyao Wang

Public Relations Public Service Award

Catherine Burns

Julie Mendez Diversity and Inclusion Award in Public Relations

Matthew Edwards

Michael Spencer

Television, Radio and Film Awards

Gordon J. Alderman Memorial Prize

Jessie Zhai

A. William Bluem Award

Nina Bracey

Nicole Villalobos

Leah Wan

Edward L. Hersh Award

Paul Levine

Bridgit M. Patterson      

Glenn Steinfast Award for Excellence in Documentary Film Production

Zachary Katz

Rowan Elizabeth Ide

Stan Alten Excellence in Audio Award

Ben Teolis

Zak Trifone Love of Life and Music Award

Ethan Fields

Irene M. Sholkin Prize in Script Writing

Grace Gay

Shriya Menon

George Plavocos Radio Achievement Award

Allison Weiss

Visual Communications Awards

Prize in Graphic Design

Abant Berke

Prize in Motion Graphics

Natalia Deng Yuan

Immersive Media

Shannon Kirkpatrick

Video Production

Xinning Li

Bertram J. Davis Scholar Award

Emily Steinberger

Dr. Frank Meola Photography Prize

Siena Pennington                                    

Jeff Licata Photography Award

Siena Pennington

Society for News Design/Marshall Matlock Student Designer of the Year Award

Lucinda Stol

School-wide Awards

Catherine l. Covert Research Award

Maleeha Bhadki

Min-Chun Lo

Yueqi Su

Phoebe Smith – Honorable Mention

David Rubin First Amendment Prize

Catherine Burns

Teresa Buzzoni

Amanda Paule

David Peters

Ufon Umanah

Excellence in Web Development and Coding

Mark Nash

Soo Min Seol

Oh, The Places You’ll Go/ Rafferty Award

Katie Hopsicker