Adobe unveiled the winners of its 11th annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA). An awards ceremony was held last night in Taipei, Taiwan, in collaboration with Icograda. The awards honor the most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists from higher education institutions worldwide who have created individual or group projects with Adobe software.
For the first time, education faculty was also recognized in award categories honoring teaching excellence. The ADAAs received 4,605 submissions overall this year from more than 73 countries, a 61 percent increase in student participation year over year - a record number since the competition began in 2001.
"Today's best design students are tomorrow's professional photographers, film-makers and game designers," said Ann Lewnes, senior vice president, Global Marketing, Adobe. "Adobe is proud to honor their incredible work through the Adobe Design Achievement Awards."
To recognize the art of teaching and create new opportunities to celebrate innovation in design education, new categories were introduced to the ADAAs this year: Innovation in Traditional Media in Education, Innovation of Interactive Media in Education and Innovation in Video and Motion in Education. Awards were given in the latter two categories.
"There are very few avenues for recognizing what the faculty is doing," said ADAA judge Meredith Davis, director of graduate programs, graphic design, North Carolina State University. "I am thrilled that the ADAA provides an opportunity for teachers to talk about the world of technology in the art of teaching that just doesn't have a forum somewhere else."
Last night's awards ceremony honored students and educators whose projects were selected from among 42 finalists. Winners were recognized in 15 categories across Interactive Media, Mobile Design, Video and Motion, and Traditional Media.