SJGC graphic design students raising the bar

Addy Awards Logo
Photo courtesy Google

Florida A&M’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication is mainly known for its journalism program. More than 80 percent of the school’s students are majoring in journalism and public relations.

But the graphic design program is coming on strong.

Professor Anosh Gill, who oversees the graphic design program, believes his students are making an impact. His students won more than 100 Addy Awards earlier this year.

“I am super excited and proud about it obviously. You need to look at in the perspective also any awards are American there’s two different levels for what has happened to that. The students won, it was a clean sweep for 22 Addy wins which has never happened,” said Gill.

Last year the students in the graphics department won 18 Addy awards and in previous years they would win only a few or no awards at all.

To go from winning a few awards to winning more than 100 this past spring says a lot about the students’ determination and hard work.

“Four students won the District Addy, the district Addy in our region is Florida and the Caribbean. Four of the students were competed at the national level, unfortunately we did not win national but again it’s unprecedented that this university’s program the work is good enough. At least four students’ work competed at the national level.,” said Gill

The graphic design students won Florida print awards. Gill pointed out Jerry Medireck and Tamara Zuokemefa, who were winners of the Addy Awards.

Medireck, a graphics major, said, “I was involved with graphics in high school. My teacher would give us the opportunity to get certified on the three main Adobe programs (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign). Every school year, we would start on an Adobe program.

“What we would do is read the books and take notes, and we would do practice exams on the program so we can get some kind of knowledge on it. From there, my love of graphic design evolved,” Medireck added. “It’s a blessing that I won these awards. When I got the email during my internship at the time stating that I won two ADDY’s I had to share the news to Mr. Gill because this is my first award as a graphic designer.”

Zuokemefa also got involved with graphics before coming to college. “I got involved in graphics in high school by taking graphic design classes. That’s when I found the love and passion for the major,” said Zuokemefa.

She was one of the FAMU students who won an Addy Award this past spring. “Winning the Addy Award really boosted my confidence when designing. I was always not sure whether or not my work was good enough to even be recognized. It was truly an honor being at the awards and representing for the university,” she said.