Students and alumni from Ringling College of Art and Design enjoyed a home field venue for the 2024 ADDY Awards ceremony, which took place on the campus sound stages Feb. 24 and once again netted dozens of awards for Ringling-led projects. The ADDYs are presented annually by the Suncoast Chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and recognize local advertising excellence in both student and professional divisions.

Fifteen Ringling College alumni were honored in professional categories, including a Judges’ Choice for Ale Ortego-Romero ’23, Illustration. (Ortega-Romero also received a Gold ADDY.) The Ringling Design Center netted 15 pro ADDYs, including three Golds and an additional Judges’ Choice honor.

The Motion Design, Graphic Design, and Film departments were all well represented in among the student winners. Haihui Yang ’24, Motion Design, received Best in Show for Universal Music Production, in the category “Elements of Advertising Animation or Special Effects.” Other student projects from the Motion Design department accounted for a whopping 82 total ADDY Awards, including 11 Gold and 68 Silver, plus two Judges’ Choice Awards.

Graphic Design student projects tallied eight Gold ADDY Awards, including one shared with second-year Entertainment Design students for Dada! Interactive Exhibit, [HW1] a collaboration between the two departments. Graphic Design also accounted for 15 Silver Awards. The Film department totaled 11 student ADDY wins overall.

The ADDY Awards recognize technical and creative achievement in individual advertisements and campaigns created for print media, websites, apps and social media, collateral materials, film, television, and radio. The Suncoast ADDY Awards are the first step in a three-tiered competition; winners next compete in the AAF’s district level, and winners there are eligible for the organization’s national ADDY Award competition.