Students from the York/Sheridan Joint Program in Design have confirmed that, as one said, "hard work pays off." They swept the awards in the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario's 2005 student competition, taking six of the nine top prizes and earning nine accolades of merit.
Students from the same program also took the lion's share of honours in this year's awards from the Society of Graphic Designers, Canada's national graphic design association. (See the June 14 issue of YFile.)
Left: Sarah Rozee's award-winning book design for Summoning Serpents
"This is a noteworthy commendation for the design program," said David Scadding, Chair of York's Department of Design, adding he is very proud that York/Sheridan students have been recognized by so many leading industry experts. "Our young designers have clearly demonstrated their design prowess."
The Registered Graphic Designers (RGD) awards are given annually in recognition of innovative design. This year, 116 entrants from schools province-wide competed for a total of nine top prizes and 18 honorable mentions. RGD has been recognizing the leading-edge work of tomorrow's designers since 1998. Since the inception of the awards, York/Sheridan design students have received 42 of the 65 awards given.
Here ar
e the six students who took top honours this year:
Sarah Roberto earned the $2,000 Adobe GoLive Award for her Bell standards manual, Ed Mirvish stamp collection and Tempt Nation book design.
Right: Sarah Roberto's award-winning design for the Ed Mirvish stamp collection
Sarah Rozee's efforts yielded the $2,000 Adobe InDesign Award for her Purple Pieman packaging design, Aboriginal art culture stamps and Summoning Serpents book design.
Leo Chan captured the $1,000 RGD Ontario Award for his Kalon type poster, churchconnect newsletter and "designing with typography" Web site.
Andrew Chiu won the $1,000 Shikatani Lacroix Brandesign Award for his A Life in Thirty-Eight book design, a DVD boxed set of three influential Canadian filmmakers and his video titled Free.
Left: Andrew Chiu's entry
Esin Nalbantoglu was awarded the $1,000 Applied Arts award for her promotional and event material for the "East meets West" International Textile Conference, her National Ballet of Canada stamp series and The Graphic Design Student Survival Guide book design.
Alan Smith won the $1,000 Barking Dog Studios New Media Award for his project titled Hive - Motion Type and Graphics; Incest, a typeface poster; and The Fruits of Niagara, a stamp set, souvenir sheet, First Day cover and promotional item.
Honourable mentions went to York/Sheridan design students: Jen Clark, Maria Doumkova, Meg Evans, Surbhi Guleria, Bethany Keeley, Andrea Kendaris, Fedilisa Llameg, Sarit Marko, and Wade Stewart.
Submissions were juried by RGD Ontario members Erin Boyce of Ove Design + Communications; Georges Haroutiun, publisher and art director of Applied Arts; Matthew Alexander, president of Colour Innovations; Peter Scott, principal of q30 design; and James Stewart of Barking Dog Studios.
Applied Arts, Canada's leading visual communications magazine, will feature the winning works in its July/August 2005 issue.
"It's such a good feeling to be recognized among so many people, and great to be officially published so early in my career," said Nalbantoglu. "It's motivated me to be the best I can be because hard work really pays off."
Left: Alan Smith's Incest typeface poster
All of the York/Sheridan winners graduated last week and are poised to enter the profession, except for Andrew Chiu who is entering the fourth year of the design program in September. The winners will collect their prizes at an awards ceremony at Victoria College in Toronto on September 12.
The competition is open to any student RDG member 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 a book design and corporate identity packages.
For more information visit the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario Web site.
The York/Sheridan Joint Program in Design, Ontario's first Bachelor of Design degree program, provides a professional education in a humanistic context. It is offered jointly by York University and the Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Oakville.
This article was submitted to YFile by Mary-Lou Schagena in the Faculty of Fine Arts.