VCU advertising students win national award

By Tom Gresham

Two recent Virginia Commonwealth University graduates have received a national advertising award for a print campaign that they developed in class in the School of Mass Communications.

Karen Khouth and Jenna Weidner received a Silver award in the National ADDY Awards competition, the largest advertising competition in the world with more than 60,000 entries annually. The American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit industry association, conducts the ADDY Awards through its 200-member advertising clubs and 15 districts.

Khouth and Weidner were honored for their inventive campaign for Itty Bitty Booklight. They created the campaign in assistant professor Bridget Camden’s portfolio development class (MASC 450, now called Style) during the 2008-09 academic year. It is the second year in a row that students in Camden’s class have won a National ADDY Award.

Camden said Khouth, who graduated in December, and Weidner, who graduated in May, were talented students who each compiled impressive portfolios at VCU.

The winning Itty Bitty Booklight campaign featured three conceptual ads that solely used images. In each, the illustration of a well-known literary character – Dracula, Sherlock Holmes and Sleeping Beauty – interacts on the page with the light cast by the Itty Bitty Booklight.

“It’s very difficult to pull off these kinds of ads,” Camden said. “You have to do something that no one else has done and you have to create three visual executions that function on their own but engage with the brand in the same way, too. They did a great job.”

Overall, undergraduate students in Camden’s class won 38 awards in advertising competitions this year. Highlights included a Gold award at the Richmond Show, a Student Judges’ Pick and two Golds in the 3rd District ADDY Awards and a Best in Show in the ADDY Awards for the Hampton Roads Local Award Show. Students have won more than 110 awards during the past four years, often competing against graduate students from around the country. 

Camden said participation in awards shows helps students improve their resume and provides validation for their hard work. Still, Camden emphasizes that students do not create advertisements geared toward awards shows.

“The students create great portfolios and the awards are a byproduct of that,” Camden said.