Ohio University Students Win Most Awards at Competition

Contact: Anne Keyser, External & Alumni Relations Coordinator, College of Communication, (740) 593-0030 or keysera@ohio.edu

ATHENS, Ohio (April 18, 2001) -- School of Visual Communication students in the Ohio University College of Communication won 12 awards at the recent Michigan State University Design Contest for College Students. Ohio University students captured more awards than any of the other 19 participating colleges and universities.

Dara Schwartz, a senior from Hazel Crest, Ill., was Ohio University's top winner, earning two first places for feature page newspaper and infographics, third place for art and illustration, and honorable mention for special section. Jeff Meister, a senior from Toledo, Ohio, won second place for infographics. Ann Arbor Miller, a graduate student from Havre, Mont., won third place for feature page newspaper.

Leah Jones, a senior from Greenville, Ohio, won honorable mentions for feature page newspaper and infographics. Sarah Meyer won an honorable mention for infographics.

The advanced layout and design class taught by Assistant Professor in the School of Visual Communication Christina Ullman won second place for a 16-page tabloid the students produced commemorating the 75th anniversary of the crash of the airship Shenandoah over Noble County in Ohio. The class produced the project as a group during winter quarter -- obtaining images, writing text, producing all of the graphics and completing the layout of the tabloid. The tabloid soon will appear as a feature on the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society website.

A third place in special sections was won by the "Dawn to Dusk" school project, a tabloid illustrating scenes along State Route 550, printed by The Athens News. A visual communication graduate desktop publishing class, also taught by Ullman, designed the template, while infographics/page design students produced the text and layout of the publication. All photographs in the publication were shot by visual communication undergraduate and graduate students and faculty.

Created in 1978 as an interdisciplinary program integrating School of Journalism and School of Art curricula, the School of Visual Communication provides a thorough foundation for publication graphics professionals. Its curriculum, which emphasizes meaningful content, combines photojournalism, photo illustration, informational graphics, publication design and interactive media technologies.

Infographics/page design students in the School of Visual Communication consistently have placed in national design contests for college students over the past few years, including the Michigan State University Design Contest; the College News Design Contest sponsored by the Missouri Student Society of News Design and the SND Education Foundation; the Student Digital Design Awards sponsored by the Ohio University Society for News Design affiliate, Sun Publications and Macromedia; and the College Graphics Reporting and News Art Competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Inquirer and administered by the Ball State University Society for News Design affiliate.