Students, Alumni, Faculty, and Staff Win Design Awards

The American Advertising Federation-Dayton hosted its 2024 American Advertising Awards on March 8, 2024, at The Brightside in Dayton, Ohio. The Modern's students, alums, faculty, and staff earned awards across the student and professional ADDY categories. Many Modern alums were honored in each category for exceptional illustration, graphic design, video, and more.

Third-year student Mariya Dydyk won the Dan Johnson Award for Creative Achievement and student Gold ADDY for her Strongsville City Branding. AAF-Dayton recognized Instructor Clancy Boyer for his involvement in the work. Winning the first award of the night, Mariya set the tone for the event with a heartfelt and powerful acceptance speech in which she shared how her experience as a Ukrainian immigrant who moved to Strongsville as a child inspired her work.

Additional Student ADDY awards included:

Mariya Dydyk, Third-Year Student
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Shady Character Wine Labels
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Instructors: Clancy Boyer and Matthew Flick
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Bronze ADDY
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Carly Utter, 2023 Graduate
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Stok Packaging

Instructor: Clancy Boyer

Bronze ADDY
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Abigail Henkle, 2023 Graduate

|The National Gardening Association Website

Instructor: Paul Garcher

Bronze ADDY
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Creative Director and Instructor Justin Morter won his first Gold ADDY for the 2023-2024 Recruitment Poster. When he accepted the award, he highlighted the importance of giving back to the next generation of designers.

Additional Professional ADDY awards included:

The Modern College of Design

Creative Director - Justin Morter, 2008 graduate, Creative Director, and Instructor

Copywriters – Jessica Barry, 1997 graduate and President, and Cait Franklin, 2016 graduate and Admissions Support Specialist

Recruitment Viewbook

Silver ADDY

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AAF-Dayton awarded the Silver Medal to employer partner and former instructor Kelly Mercer of Boom Crate Studios, and the federation paid tribute to her incredible design career. Kelly spoke about the time she served as an instructor at The Modern and recognized the many alumni in the audience whom she had mentored as students and currently employ at her award-winning studio.  

"One of our favorite nights of the year, the AAF-Dayton American Advertising Awards celebrates the exceptional work produced in the Dayton region," shared Jessica Barry, President of The Modern. “As AAF-Dayton distributed countless awards to students, alums, faculty, and staff, The Modern's impact on the creative economy in the region was evident."

Those who won a gold or silver award advance to the district five ADDYs competition and will compete with other students and designers from Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia. This year, the competition concludes with a national awards celebration in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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