York/Sheridan design students are so good, they're establishing a trend: for the third consecutive year, they've taken top honours at the 2004 Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) of Ontario scholarship awards competition.
This year, 115 entrants from 14 schools province-wide competed, with RGD Ontario awarding a total of 12 scholarships to 10 students plus six honorable mentions. One student in the York/Sheridan Joint Program in Design took top prize – walking away with two awards – while three more won first-place awards and four earned honourable mentions.
"Once again, our students were judged to be exceptional by our professional association" said Don Newgren, Chair of York's Department of Design in the Faculty of Fine Arts. "Receiving five of the 12 top prizes, plus four of the six honourable mentions, is a terrific achievement, and evidence of the students' intellectual engagement in the studio, creative talents and commitment to excel in the profession."
RGD has been recognizing the innovation and hard work of tomorrow's designers since 1998. Since the inception of the awards, York/Sheridan design students have received 36 of the 56 awards given, Newgren noted.
Right: A page from Shahin Edalati's Omnibus, a visual diary
This year's top prize winner, Shahin Edalati, won both the Adobe InDesign award and RGD Ontario award. His entries were Type animation, a poem exploring romantic nature; Omnibus, a visual diary by Edalati; and Open, an exhibition design which includes an identity, floor plan, 3-D model and hanging ceiling posters. He will receive a $2,000 award from Adobe and a $1,200 cash prize from RGD Ontario.
The three other first-place award winners – all of whom completed their BDes degree this past June – will each receive a cash prize of $1,000.
Lily Cheung earned the Design in Overdrive Award for Puzzlemania, a five-minute documentary showcasing one man's passion for crossword puzzles; Visual Biography, a project reflecting Cheung's cultural experience; and Sushi Roller Packaging, a design for organic and tactile packaging.
Right and below: Images from Seduction and the Art of Attraction by Graham Huber
Graham Huber's efforts yielded the Philip Sung Design Award for his entries: The Unheard Declarations of the Dead & Lazy, packaging for a CD container; and Seduction and the Art of Attraction, a 30,000 word manuscript inspired by an alchemist's tome of sacred knowledge, that debunks the spicy charms of attraction and seduction.
Judith Lacerte captured the Koskie Minsky Award for her entries titled Just the Ticket, a book exploring the form and function of tickets and their impact on everyday life; Beyond Four Walls, an identity and promotional system for a museum symposium; and Crumbling bakery, a brand and packaging system for a baker specializing in bite-sized portions.
Honourable mentions went to four York/Sheridan design students who also graduated this past June, Anna Catling, Janice Fung, Rebecca Luffman and Otto Yeung.
The top and first-prize winners entries are featured in the July/August 2004 issue of Applied Arts, Canada's leading visual communications magazine.
On Sept. 20, the winners will collect their prizes from the sponsors at a special awards ceremony at the Design Exchange in downtown Toronto.
All of the York/Sheridan winners have now completed their design education, and are poised to enter the profession.
Right: Stamp 03, design by Janice Fung
The scholarship awards competition is open to any student RGD member who is enrolled in a three-or four-year graphic design program at a recognized college or university in Ontario. Entrants are required to submit three samples of their work - anything from Web pages to posters to corporate identity programs.
Submissions were juried by a panel of RGD Ontario members, including Angela Bradfield of Dragonfly Design Communications, Chris Campbell of Interbrand, Peter Gabany of Limelight Advertising & Design, Julia Grady of Barking Dog Studios and Devin Hock of Pylon Design Inc.
This story was submitted to YFile by Mary-Lou Schagena, communications, Faculty of Fine Arts.