By Mandy Boyle
Advertising Sales Manager
On February 22, The Northeast Pennsylvania AdClub held their annual ADDY Award Ceremony at the Westmoreland Club in Wilkes-Barre, which featured the work of several Marywood students. Araceli Vergara, Antoinette Lopez, Michael Hurst, and Megan Nonnemacher wowed judges, each bringing home an ADDY. Vergara’s Memoirs of a Geisha design won a student silver, alongside Hurst’s “Influences”, and Nonnemacher’s Shoe 4 Africa piece. Lopez shone, winning a gold ADDY for her dear mystique design.
”I never thought that I would win,” said Vergara of her first ADDY. “I was doing it for the experience, but when I got the notice that I had won an award, I felt something very special. I felt accomplished, success, and proud of myself.”
Local agencies Lavelle Murray Inc. and deLuca frigoletto advertising, inc. were also major winners, with several gold and silver ADDY’s each for their various media campaigns. Other winners included Wilkes University, Dan Simrell Advertising, Ideaworks Marketing & Design, Jump Motion Design, Lamar Advertising, Crow Designs, and idGroup, Inc.
According to the organization’s website, The Northeast Pennsylvania AdClub is “the only area organization dedicated to promoting greater effectiveness in the use of advertising and fostering higher standards of practice in advertising and public communications.” As an affiliate of the American Advertising Federation, NEPA AdClub is part of a network of over 50,000 professionals nationwide. Members range from students to agencies, freelancers, and back again.
AAF’s ADDY Awards are the world’s largest for the industry by the industry advertising competition with over 60,000 entries annually. To the AAF, the awards “represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world.”