Stephens senior snags prestigious
advertising award for poster design
A Stephens College senior is headed to Kansas City this month to receive one of the highest honors in advertising.
Rudi Petry ’13 was notified last week that a poster she designed last year will receive a Kansas City ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation of Kansas City.
Stephens students have received local ADDYs in the past, but the regional level is more competitive. And Kansas City is considered one of the largest regional ADDY competitions in the country.
“It’s very prestigious,” said Kate Gray, who teaches graphic design.
Not bad considering Petry designed the poster in what was her first graphic design class. “I’m in awe,” she said. Petry switched her major from theatre to graphic design last year. She remembers being amazed when she heard a freshman design student before her won a local ADDY Award. Now, she’s having a hard time grasping her own accomplishment.
“I literally reached a goal I didn’t even know I had,” she said. “I’m where I thought I couldn’t be.”
Petry’s award-winning design was from an assignment Gray gave in a graphic design course in the fall of 2011. Students were asked to create a poster for a fake event that combined a celebrity with a charitable organization. Petry chose indie singer Regina Spektor and the Humane Society—because both Spektor and animals are “adorable,” Petry said—and created a poster for a fake concert at Madison Square Garden. With little text, the result was an eye-catching sketch of Spektor and a cat with strategic use of color.
The annual ADDY Awards—considered the Oscars of the advertising world—is slated for Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Midland Theatre. There, Petry will find out specifically what level of ADDY her design was awarded. She will also have a chance to network with professionals from the top advertising agencies in the region. “It’s really considered the best of the best,” Gray said.
