Three students from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications were honored by AAF District 3 of the American Advertising Federation with top awards for student projects.

Sophia McKowen, Abby Mondello and James Motter won two of the five Gold ADDYs awarded to students.  Gold ADDY winners are automatically forwarded to compete in the National Advertising Awards competition.

In addition to the Gold ADDY, advertising students McKowen and Mondello won the Student Best of Show award  for  "Tampax – Wear the White," a transit advertising campaign created in instructor Russ Gottwald's Concept Development class.

"Abby and Sophia's campaign demonstrates the power of a strong concept and the importance of conceptual thinking — which is the whole purpose of the course this project came from," says Gottwald.  "Their simple combination of an image, background and logo needs no further explanation — at least, not to Tampax's target customers. IYKYK."

James Motter, who graduated in Spring 2023 with a degree in visual communications, won a Gold ADDY for  “2023 Gamecock Baseball Intro Video." Instructor Jason Porter said it was rewarding to see his students take what they learn in class and use it in their on-campus projects.

"James leaves us in awe of his talent and skill as a storyteller and leaves his peers impressed and inspired," says Porter. "He shows just how much you can accomplish by applying your studies to real-world challenges right here at the university."