University Marketing won a Bronze and two Silver awards as the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) Cape Girardeau chapter recognized the best in local advertising creativity.

The department won Silver ADDY awards for its semo.edu website redesign and for its “The Dome” newsletter and microsite. The department also won a Bronze ADDY award for its On Campus publication. 

The AAF recognized entries by 12 Southeast marketing, art and design, and mass media student groups, including three Gold, a Best of Show Student award, five Silver and three Bronze awards. 

Southeast students across disciplines in advertising, multimedia journalism, public relations, marketing and graphic design were recognized.

Southeast student Bethany Draper, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, won the Best of Show Student award for “Hade’s” -- one of two “Deviant Diner” art and design course projects that won gold ADDYs. 

“Bethany is a great example of the exceptional student body within our program, department, and University,” said Jeremy Griffin, instructor of art and design. “She has an amazing talent that has grown throughout her education at Southeast. I am happy to have been one of the mentors/educators to help develop her technical and artistic skills.”

When Draper won, Griffin said he was not surprised.

“I know her work is extraordinary, and I am happy that others are acknowledging her, and all our students work across the University as not only industry-ready but industry-leading,” he said. “I am so very proud of her success, and I know that she will find even greater success in her career and beyond.”

Marketing and graphic design students earned two gold, two silver and two bronze awards.

Several of these awards recognized the students in an integrated marketing communications practicum course taught by Dr. Sandy Sen, professor of marketing, and co-taught by Griffin and Louise Bodenheimer, professor of art and design. These students collaborated to create a campaign for Inland Cape Rice, a McClure, Illinois, rice farm. 

“We remain grateful to our client, Inland Cape Rice, and almost thirty former regional and national clients, and the Small Business Development Center for supporting our collaborative and experiential learning exercise over the years, along with our respective department chairs and college deans,” Sen said. 

“I was very proud of our students’ representation of Southeast in the recent AAF ADDY Awards, where student collaboration paved the way for creating marketing collateral for Inland Cape Rice,” Bodenheimer said, noting that the practicum course’s dual instruction and peer feedback setup allowed for the production of concurrent creative work. 

The “Hades” project by Draper that won the Best of Show Student award was a restaurant concept also from the practicum course, Griffin said.

“This class and project used their skills and knowledge learned throughout their education to create an original concept, identity, and materials to represent the restaurant’s mission and products,” Griffin said.

This marks the tenth year of this interdepartmental collaboration, Sen said, which has led to more than 60 student ADDY wins from AAF and a publication in a special issue of a major pedagogical journal: “Marketing Education Review.”

“I am very pleased by the continuous success of the collaboration between our two departments and the visibility and accolades it has brought to our students and the university,” Sen said. 

Bodenheimer said the support of the Department of Art and Design and the Department of Marketing have been vital for the success of students.

“To promote rigor in a design curriculum, it is necessary to present one’s student work to seasoned professionals in the industry in order to gain a perspective on ‘what is working,’” Bodenheimer said. “It is exciting to see students develop over the years, gaining expertise and talent development on such a strong level.”

Southeast mass media advertising instructor and SECreative faculty advisor Michael Simmons said he too was very proud of his students, who took home one gold and three silver ADDYs.

“Over the last four years, our students in SECreative have regularly won Gold ADDYs and Best Show awards,” Simmons said. “It’s a testament to our students’ professionalism and hard work. Getting to see them see their work recognized is one of the greatest rewards in teaching.”

SECreative is a student-run media production firm that has over the last several years worked with over 15 different on-campus departments and organizations, local small businesses and non-profits organizations. Students in public relations, advertising, TV and film as well as students in other departments to work in a collaborative and highly experiential environment – doing real work for real clients. The students produce work for clients in print media, video , social media, advertising, sales promotion, public relations and more.

Department of Mass Media Chair Dr. Tamara Zellars Buck praised the breadth of performance from the department.

“As a department chair, you can’t ask for much more,” she said. “Students who are active in SECreative and Public Relations Campaigns and Case Studies course are primarily advertising, multimedia journalism and public relations majors working with Professor Simmons. Their strong performance with gold and silver awards is always impressive and demonstrates the value of experiential learning in our student media.”

Students taking the Public Relations Campaigns and Case Studies course, won a Bronze ADDY for their work on a campaign for Fault Line Film Festival to increase attendance at screenings.

Public Relations Campaigns and Case Studies is the final capstone class in the public relations option and asks students to incorporate skills they’ve learned in previous classes, including writing, design and strategy, said Dr. Sarah Cavanah, assistant professor of mass media. Each time the class is offered, a real client with a real public relations situation is selected. 

“Students are divided into teams who work all semester on researching the situation, strategizing how to meet client goals and producing the campaign materials and plans that would be needed to execute their visions,” Cavanah said. “At the end of the course, each team pitches their plan.”

Their final grades, she said, are a combination of evaluations from the instructor, the client and a working professional.

“Our public relations capstone course made its first showing in the ADDYs this year, and I believe it’s just the beginning for Dr. Cavanah and her course,” Buck said. 

“Experiential learning is a highly effective way of getting students to master core concepts,” Cavanah said. “Beyond that, it develops the kinds of soft skills employers often list as traits they are looking for in employees, including the ability to work in a team, communication skills, workload management, conflict resolution and many others.”

As an ACEJMC-accredited program — one of only two in Missouri — the Department of Mass Media puts a special emphasis on experiential learning as part of its curriculum, Cavanah said. By the time the public relations students hit the capstone course, they have already worked for one or two clients in different ways in different courses. The same is true in the other options in the department: advertising, multimedia journalism and TV/film.

Beyond that, she said, students take “real” work more seriously, leading to greater investment and motivation on their parts, as well as understanding and retention of core concepts and skills. 

“Authentic professional experiences allow students to not only get a full experience of what is expected in the industry in terms of skills, knowledge and professionalism, it also starts the students on a journey of professional networking within the industries they want to join,” Cavanah said. “Students who impress a real-world ‘client’ or organization through their experiential learning work will have the potential of using those contacts to find those first positions.”

To be executed well, experiential learning requires more time, effort and attention than a “typical” course, Cavanah said. AAF’s awards process gives students the opportunity for a third-party assessment or certification that their work meets high-quality professional standards while also rewarding their efforts. 

“Generally, I find that students find a lot of satisfaction out of the awards process at the end no matter what,” Cavanah said. “When students see that their work is not just valued by a client but seen as worthy of respect from an industry organization, that makes a big difference in how they think about themselves and their potential.” 

Student award winners are as follows: 

• Fault Line Film Festival – Bronze
  • Bailey Redden of Belleville, Ill.
  • Taylor VanAusdall of Shiloh, Ill.
  • Maren Slaten of Charleston, Mo.
  • Addison Ziegler of Kelso, Mo.
  • Lisa Isgrig of Caledonia, Mo. 

• SE Creative
  • Fault Line Film Festival Posters – Silver
    • Tanner Voss of Bartelso, Ill.
    • Alisha Reisenbichler of Pocahontas, Mo.
    • Allison Otto of St. Louis, Mo.
    • Hailey Meyr of Springfield, Mo.
  • SEMO Horticulture Club – Gold
    • Hailey Meyr
    • Tanner Voss
  • Department of Mass Media 21:1 Recruitment – Silver
    • Alisha Reisenbichler
    • Molly Galik of O’Fallon, Mo.
    • Rachel Westhoff of Festus, Mo.
    • Derek Thomas of Charleston
  • SE Arrow – Chill the Fudge Out – Silver
    • Tanner Voss 

• Marketing Students
  • Eco Beans Campaign – Silver
    • Corie Pike of Jackson, Mo. 

• Practicum Course: Inland Cape Rice submissions
  • Group 4 - Bronze
    • Designers:
      • Katie Worsham of St. Charles, Mo.
      • Bethany Draper
    • Marketing students
      • Torren M. Brown of Creve Coeur, Mo.
      • Brayden L. Emmons of Jackson
      • Miriam J. Gorecki of New Lenox, Ill.
      • Mason H. Kurtz of O’Fallon
      • Kalee E. Sydnor of St. Charles
    • Group 6 - Bronze
      • Designer:
        • Olivia Petzoldt of Frohna, Mo.
      • Marketing students
        • Weihang Dong of Qinhuangdao, China
        • Molly A. Galik
        • Joseph M. Kedl of Dardenne Prairie, Mo.
        • Nasr A. Meshaikhis of Qatif, Saudia Arabia
        • Emma A. Rosener of Bismarck, Mo.
        • Haley L. Taylor of Cape Girardeau
          
          
• Practicum Course: Deviant Diner projects
  • “Hade’s” - Gold, Best of Show Student
    • Designer: Bethany Draper
  • “Botanical’s” – Gold
    • Designer: Olivia Petzoldt
      
      
• Practicum Course: Winery project
  • Defiance Ridge Winery Poster Design - Silver
    • Designer: Bethany Draper