Do Student Awards Matter?

Kevin Proudfoot's first real taste of the advertising industry came in 1997, when he went to the One Show and won a silver student pencil for a sushi restaurant ad that he created while attending VCU Adcenter. Pleased with his entry—a headline driven-newspaper ad that played off the fact it was in a newspaper—Proudfoot, now co-executive creative director at Wieden + Kennedy New York, came to the show a bit smugly. But then he saw Wieden's ESPN "This is SportCenter" TV campaign cleaning up at the show, and he was "blown out of the water," he recalls."I remember feeling really good about being there," says the 32-year-old copywriter. "Then I saw how great all the TV was and it just seemed like ... I hadn't achieved anything yet. There was so much more to do, this wasn't the destination, the end goal—it was a nice experience to have along the way."Rewarding student work has long been a part of advertising award shows, but competition in student divisions is growing with the proliferation of ad schools and the number of student entries up. One Show student entries have increased 50 percent since 2002, to 744 this year, and the Clios report entries have steadily increased. But what happens to students after their glittering moment on the podium is over? Does it help rocket a young creative to a stellar career, or is it just one more unnoticed detail in a resumé among a pile of hundreds of others on a recruiter's desk? While some might think winning big at the award shows is an express pass to stardom—or at least a job offer—industry experts say that garnering such a nod doesn't guarantee anything, as many eager juniors hope.Alison Brafman, a recruiter at McCann Erickson in New York, says an award carries some weight, but doesn't necessarily make it any easier to get hired right out of school. "It definitely helps, but it's not the only thing I'm looking at," she says."It's an accolade at a very junior level, which is great," says Betsy Yamazaki, evp, creative manager at Lowe in New York. Pointing to the hundreds seeking jobs each spring, she says it's not possible to see every students' book. "When the students win at the shows, that's usually their calling card, I usually would seek out their book at that point. That says to me, 'Okay, this is the cream of the crop of the students.'"But, she cautions, winning an award does not "in and of itself guarantee a job." While a student award may not be a magic bullet to getting a job, there are other benefits. Carol Vick, placement director at the Creative Circus in Atlanta, notes that it's an excellent opportunity for students to get their work in front of top-notch creative directors judging a show. The student contests vary from show to show: for example, the One Show offers a brief students must complete, while the Clios allow students to enter their work in any of the main categories (TV, print, etc.). The Clios, owned by Adweek parent VNU, also sponsors a portfolio review during which 12 young creatives have their work critiqued by Clio judges."The competitions are [judged by] a dozen leading creative directors. Who wouldn't want those people looking intently at their work? I've been at award shows and had judges say to me, 'Hey, that one was from your school, would you have them give me a call?'" adds Pippa Seichrist, president of the Miami Ad School in Miami. "Creative directors recognize good work whether it says 'I have an award' or not, but when someone wins an award, the press the student gets for winning that is terrific."Paul Keister, creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami, who judged the One Show this year, says his favorite part about judging is seeing student submissions. "Some of it may not be up to snuff, but just the fact they're doing it, and putting the effort and time see it through [is important]. Every single judge puts a lot of emphasis on the student portion. They know the importance of it, it's the future of advertising."Keister has his own past as a student winner. He submitted entries to the One Show and the Andy Awards while a student at Texas Tech in 1992 and 1993 and won a silver Andy. After he sent his book around, the Andy earned him a call from Alex Bogusky. "He told me he had seen some of my book at the Andys and gave me encouragement," Keister recalls.Patrick Almaguer, 26, a copywriter at TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif., won a silver Andy last year for a student NPR campaign he did while at the Creative Circus in Atlanta. He remembers the award show as " a bunch of people mingling, drinking, having a good time and looking at some work," he says. "It's intimidating as a student, but it was cool to see everyone up there, seeing some of the professionals you look up to." He thought about approaching them at the show, but because "a lot of them are really busy or really drunk, I didn't want to overstep."People remembered his work. "When I was showing my book for feedback, people would recognize it," he says. His actual job offer at Chiat came from his collection of work, however—the award wasn't discussed.But coming up with material to build a portfolio is an important reason why students should enter award shows, according to Coz Cotzias, associate professor at the VCU Adcenter. Cotzias teaches a class that requires the students to submit an entry to the One Show student competition. But he says the benefit of the class is more to create good work for a student's portfolio."The One Show [pencil], everybody's got it, who cares," he says. "That's the reason why first and foremost, [you ask] would you put this in your book, is it a book level. If it is, then it's worthy of going into One Show."Kevin Koller, who won the gold student Andy last year, and is now an art director at CP+B in Miami, says winning made him more confident about the work in his book.Winning "gives you a radar as to how you are compared to everyone else as far as your book," he says. "It was important for me to win, less because of the award, but more about knowing my book was going to be on par with where it needed to be. When you win an award, it validates the work."In addition, preparing a submission for entry in the shows prepares students for what the real world of advertising is like, which is more than what just being in class does.Keister stresses winning isn't the most important thing. "It's nice to win, but I think it just helps with development, its sort of ignites a fire within a lot of these students that there's something at stake." Adds Cotzias: "The younger students we've had come into Adcenter, just let out of undergrad, are less likely to have learned the level of professionalism and work ethic [necessary in the ad world]. Let me tell you, they learn it during the One Show."Robert Lastra, 28, who won a bronze student Clio last year and was also named one of the Clio Future Gold Young Creatives, says winning was "inspirational." Though he had already scored a job at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as a copywriter before the award show, the Clios broadened his view of people in the industry. "Everyone's very humble, you get to talk to a lot of people, not only about advertising, but get to know them on a personal level," he says. "They are the big names in advertising, and you get to sit down and talk to them."Returning to award shows more than one year in a row is a learning experience too. The year after winning One Show silver and being wowed by the ESPN TV spots, Proudfoot returned to win gold for an assignment to make a campaign for a pastamaker, which he worked on with two other student creatives. "We spent a lot of time just thinking about the product, not trying to do funny ads, but doing the kind of work we thought we would have to do if we were doing it at an agency, if they were our client," he recalls.The campaign they came up with showed people at a dinner party eating pasta, with the tagline, "Make time, make pasta."While Proudfoot didn't put his previous year's silver pencil winning campaign in his book, he did include the pastamaker ad."I like the work, I like the process," he says. "It was one of the first times I felt like I'd had the experience tackling a project on that level versus [just] coming up with great headline [and] funny visual." While he admits his student awards don't mean that much to him now. "At that point in time it mattered, because it gives people within the industry some sort of reference point for your work. It puts it in a context they understand," he explains. "Unfortunately awards shows have to provide that context."And whether it was the awards he won or the ethic he learned working on award entries, something worked: Now Proudfoot finds himself co-heading the account that awed him as a student award winner, creating new executions for the "This is SportCenter" campaign.

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Do Student Awards Matter?

Mae Anderson

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Mae Anderson