Graphic design students from TCU’s School of Art moved a step closer to having their work judged on a national stage.

Four students received gold awards at the local American Advertising Awards ceremony (ADDYs) Friday. The students included Kenneth Gragson, Anna Parsons, Jami Casciari and Laura Berner.

These students will go on to compete against students from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas. The winners of that competition will move to the national level.

Gragson won for his Dr. Strangelove poster, while Parsons was honored for her cookbook design. Berner and Casciari were both recognized for their suicide prevention advertising campaign.

“The whole experience of the ADDYs was really fun and exciting,” Berner said. “It was really interesting to be able to see other student work from other schools that I normally wouldn’t see.”

Students were also able to see work from agencies around Fort Worth. 

“It was fun to see who created the designs that I’ve seen on billboards and magazines,” Berner said. 

The competition was open to full-time junior and senior students with quality competition work from any of their graphic design courses. 

TCU competed against other students from the University of Texas at Arlington, Tarrant County College, Texas Wesleyan University, Texas Women’s University and the Fort Worth Art Institute.

Parsons’ cookbook was one of the four gold award winners.

“I created an ice cream cookbook called Per Tutti where I wrote all the recipes, took all the photos and designed the whole book,” Parsons said. “It really meant a lot to me winning a Gold because everything in that book was my own. The ADDYs are a wonderful experience and I have enjoyed going these past two years.”

The gold award recipients weren’t the only TCU students nominated. Six silver, seven bronze and two special judges awards were also given to TCU students. Some students won multiple awards.

Special judges awards went to Gragson for his Paper Mate ad and Amber Sasano for her Wildfire Archery advertising campaign. 

The silver award recipients were Jami Casciari, Kendall Smith, Emily Mitchell, Amber Sasano and Rebecca Somers. The bronze award recipients were Jamie Kenston, Katherine Jezek, Aubrey Dosmann, Layne Kinney, Madeleine Glenski and Amanda Deering. 

Professor Lewis Glaser, coordinator and professor of graphic design, said TCU has been entering the ADDY competition for at least 30 years. He said the faculty strongly encourage students to enter into the competition.

TCU submitted 24 pieces of work that ranged from print advertisements, posters, editorial designs, magazine designs and packaging and web designs.

Faculty members assist students who submit works.

“We assist them in various ways, including choosing work to enter and appropriate categories, and properly preparing entries and paperwork,” Glaser said.

Once students submit their work, they are notified if they have won an award. The annual award ceremony reveals the students who have won the awards.

The American Advertising Federation sponsors the American Advertising Awards ceremony each year for students around the nation. 

The competition is three-tiered with local, district and national competing levels. The competition is known as the ADDYs, but the ADDY is the name of the award, similar to the “Oscars.”

The local award ceremony was held on Feb. 6 at the Masonic Temple in downtown Fort Worth.