Published on March 31, 2021 by Sean Flynt  
The Gold Addy Award (Dan Haun)
The Gold Addy Award (Dan Haun)

A team of 10 Samford University communication and media students earned a Gold Addy Award at the 63rd annual American Advertising Awards, hosted by the Birmingham chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF Birmingham) Feb. 26. Kyle Bowman, Hope Dawson, Jenna Goethel, Meg Herndon, Chad Jordan, Taylor Korte, Hannah Pellicer, Olivia Stein, Bennett Strange and Zach Zavada earned the honor in the Integrated Advertising Campaign for Consumers category for their work with Firehouse Ministries homeless shelter in Birmingham, Alabama.

Under the supervision of professor Dan Haun, the students created a complete ad campaign for the Stop, Drop and Run 5k Virtual Run event in December. The project helped raise $8,000 to support Firehouse Ministries programs, which include emergency services, shelter, housing, food and clothing. The students designed face masks, shirts, bibs, hats, posters, videos, a brand identity system, social media posts and two websites for the virtual run.

Haun said professionals and students submitted more than 350 pieces of work for this year’s competition. The entries were judged in mid-February by professionals from Austin, Chicago and New York. In addition to the Gold Addy Award, judges honored Samford School of the Arts students with an additional seven Addy awards for a variety of other projects.

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 5,791 students from 49 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.