The Modern is proud to announce that its student marketing team took first place in the National Student Advertising Competition District 5 virtual event held on April 25, 2020. Western Kentucky University was awarded second place and the University of Kentucky took third.

Advised by instructors Molly Baker, Andy Sharpe, and A.J. Busé, the team of 22 Design and Design Leadership students used digital communication and collaboration tools to overcome great adversity throughout the pandemic to create an award-winning campaign.

The National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), sponsored by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), is the premier college advertising competition in the nation, providing more than 2,000 students the experience of creating a strategic advertising/marketing/media campaign for a corporate client. Students develop a marketing plan then pitch their work to advertising professionals at the district, semi-final, and national levels. This is the sixth year The Modern’s students have competed in this prestigious competition.

Students were thrilled this year to create a campaign for corporate sponsor Adobe, an industry leader in multimedia and creativity software products that the students know and love. Popular products include Acrobat Reader, Photoshop, and Adobe Creative Cloud.

Former rankings for The Modern include:

• 2019 – 2nd Place Overall, Best Digital
• 2018 – 2nd Place Overall, Best Creative, Best Promotion
• 2017 – 1st Place Overall, Best Creative
• 2016 – 2nd Place Overall, Best Presenters
• 2015- 2nd Place Overall


Other colleges that competed in the District 5 competition include Murray State, Marshall, and Youngstown University.

The NSAC team members include:

Olivia Accorinti, Kathryn Boor, Hope Bruggeman, Abby Carter, Logan Fischer, Sydney Heitmeyer, Logan Hill, Madison Hosier, Isa Jackson, Emma Jones, Sammy Kuck, Branson Kurtz, Kiana Lopez, Brennan Moore, Shelby Miller, Delaney Pfeiffer, Andrew Schetter, Kaylee Showalter, Tara Springer, Eva Stammen, Angelica Weimer, Sadie Wick.

“We could not be prouder of our students for winning this competition, especially during these unprecedented times, “ stated Jessica Barry, president of The Modern. “It’s notable that the students and advisors put in countless hours to create this award-winning campaign remotely.”