Northeastern State University Students earn Addy Awards

(Tahlequah, OK)--Each year graphic design students across the nation prepare for the largest competition in their field--the Addys. The Addy competition is sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and is co-sponsored by local affiliates in major cities across the nation. The competition works as a tiered contest with levels in the city or metro area, districts comprising of several states and lastly the national level. Up until this year no student at Northeastern State University had ever won an Addy at any level.

On February 19th design students at NSU landed big at the AAF Tulsa Addys and in a big way. The night began with a warm welcome directed to all the students from the local universities and a special mention to the NSU students and Professor Jacob Cotton of NSU for their many entries. The night ended with NSU students receiving 5 Citations of Excellence, 2 Addy Awards and the grand daddy of them all--the coveted Best of Show Award.

Lisa Marie Dotson of Sallisaw, Caleb Head, of Cleveland each received 2 citations each and James Murphy of Inola also received a citation. Lindsey Sinclair of Tahlequah won an Addy, while Saxon Campbell of Sallisaw one an Addy and also brought home the Best of Show award for NSU.

When asked about his experience at the Addys Campbell said he was very grateful for the opportunity to participate. It was fun and exciting, and that he couldn't have done it without the support of his family and friends. Sinclair admitted that while the competition was exciting it was also nerve racking and that she too was grateful for the opportunity and for the support of her friends and family along with her professor, Mr. Cotton.

The students were encouraged to participate by incoming professor Jacob Cotton who had participated in the competitions himself as a student at Louisiana Tech University. Cotton believes the showing was a huge step in the right direction for the art program and that it shows that with the right support the art program can go a long way and can work well to represent NSU both statewide and nationally.

Campbell and Sinclairs entries will now move forward to represent NSU at the district level of competition where they will be competing against students from Texas, Arkansas and Northwestern Louisiana.