ADAA Experience

The Adobe Design Achievement Awards 2014 finalists are announced.  Running for fourteen consecutive years, the (ADAA) global contest continues to receive thousands of quality submissions every year. The competition honors the most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists from the world’s top institutions of higher education. This year, the contest received 4,419 entries from students attending 1,500 universities and colleges, located in seventy countries.

Nine official judges met at the Adobe offices in New York, to select the 2014 ADAA honorees from over 1,100 semifinalist entries. “There was an incredible variety of animation entries with an amazingly high level of production. Some entries shared moving narrative, and many were exquisitely designed with sharp and witty execution. We had a wonderfully difficult time in selecting the finalists and winners,” commented J.J. Sedelmaier, ADAA judge.

Official Judges select the #ADAA14 finalists

The judges debated and voted on the most creative student designs to honor. The judges chose 25 finalist entries representing student creatives from over a dozen countries, including Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, India, Ireland, Korea, Portugal, Poland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, and Venezuela. Download the Finalist list. “We are proud and excited to recognize these selected finalist works. Those chosen were both strong in concept and brilliant in execution, each created by student designers whom we look forward to seeing grow and become a creatively impactful force in the global ADAA community,” added John Vondracek, The String Theory and ADAA judge.

The judges also selected students to receive Special Designations for designs that demonstrated achievements in Typography or Social Impact. Then, the judges chose to recognize 23 students with Honorable Mention designations. The Honorable Mention recipients represent countries Australia, Croatia, China, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Russia, United Kingdom and the United States.

This year, the ADAA competition will feature ten categories of design, across three media segments. Each media segment will also recognize one Grand Prize Winner. Category winners will be announced online on September 15, 2014. Each individual category winner, or group leader, will receive prizes which include a 1-year membership to Adobe Creative Cloud, $2,000US, a trophy, and a 1-year mentorship with a design professional. Three media segment Grand Prize Winners will be announced at the Adobe Design Achievement Awards Grand Prize Screening and Reception, to be held in conjunction with Adobe MAX on October 5, 2014. The Grand Prize Winners will each receive an additional $3,000US.

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#ADAA14 Break through. Go global.

The Adobe Design Achievement Awards official judging was recently held at the Adobe offices in New York.  During the course of the contest, students from over 70 countries submitted into two submission sessions.  Then, thirty-seven pre-selection panelists, representing twelve countries, poured over 4,419 entries to select the best Semifinalist work, which would eventually go on to be judged in the final round in NYC.

The selected Semifinalist students hailed from 50 countries including Indonesia, Austria, UK, Poland, Netherlands, Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Belgium, Korea, Croatia, China, Brazil, India, and Poland.

This week, nine official judges from varied expertise and unique perspectives, convened to select the most innovative and creative student designs. The official judges reviewed over 1,100 international Semifinalist entries, culminating during an intensive two-day judging process.

Through management by long-standing ADAA partner, Icograda, the judges were set to the task of choosing three Finalists per design category, and one Grand Prize winner per media segment to honor for outstanding achievement in design.  The judges weighed in; deliberated, discussed and voted, to arrive at their decisions of finalist and winning entries.

The ADAA 2014 Judges, back row, from left: Hamish Campbell, Hjalti Karlsson, John Vondracek, and J. J. Sedelmaier. Front row, from left: Matteo Bologna, John Madere, Lita Talarico, Nina Boesch, and Alia Hassan.

The judges shared their insights on reviewing the entries.  “I was most impressed by work that explored concepts in clean, clever, or engaging ways. It was incredible to see so many brilliant ideas executed beautifully,” commented Nina Boesch, ADAA judge and 2006 alumnus. “I’ve enjoyed the unique pleasure of being honored by the contest, then serving on the ADAA pre-selection panel, and this year, serving as an official judge. The ADAA program has been immensely valuable to me as a contest honoree, and now, as a member of its global community.”

ADAA 2014 official judges. From left to right, Lita Talarico, Matteo Bologna, Nina Boesch, and Hjalti Karlsson.

Adobe is looking forward to formally announcing the 2014 ADAA finalists on August 25, 2014!

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