Two graphic design students from Old Dominion University won national awards from the American Advertising Federation for their work. Stephanie Marx won silver for her packaging design of banana ketchup. Sekoyah McGlorn won silver for redesigning the cover of a George Saunders novella. They received their awards at a conference in Nashville. Their professors praised their work and said it demonstrated the strong graphic design program at ODU.

1. 
"Banana Ketchup Packaging" by Stephanie Marx.
Cover redesign of George Saunder's "The Brief and Freightening Reign of Phil" by Sekoyah McGlorn.
Two Old Dominion University graphic design students won national ADDYs in the student division of the American
Advertising Awards.
Stephanie Marx, a spring graduate, won silver for her "Banana Ketchup Packaging" design created in a typographic
design class at ODU.
Sekoyah McGlorn, a rising senior, won silver for her cover redesign of George Saunders' political satire novella, "The
Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil."
They received their awards at ADMERICA, the American Advertising Federation's national conference, on June 3 at
the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee.
To make it to the national level, their designs had to medal in local and regional ADDY competitions.
"The fact that their work made it through these three steps is quite a feat," said Ivanete Blanco, associate professor
of graphic design at ODU. "This recognition increases the profile of the program and it's a rarity to have a student
receive a national ADDY. We are so proud of them both."
After graduating, Marx started a job as a graphic designer for MGM International.
"My time at ODU prepared me so much for my professional career," she said. "I utilized my professors and took the
time to push my undergrad projects to a higher level, and I used my summers for internships as well as taking time
to gain experience during the school year."
She came up with the idea for her packaging design after researching banana ketchup - a popular fruit ketchup in
the Philippines that is dyed red to resemble tomato ketchup.
"I was excited to take a product that was common in another country and display it as something exciting on U.S.
shelves," Marx said.
Since banana ketchup was first produced during WWII, she used ration stamp ephemera as inspiration for the bold
type, contained spaces and distressed patterning and structure of her design.
Two ODU Graphic Design Students Win National
ADDY Awards
June 10, 2022
By Jonah Grinkewitz (Mailto:jgrinkew@odu.edu)

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"Stephanie's work is always well-researched and considered," said David Shields, associate professor of graphic
design and Marx's typographic design teacher. "At the same time, she consistently demonstrates a great sense of
humor and empathy and has a knack for matching visual style to the demands of a particular problem."
In her redesign of Saunders' abstract political novella, McGlorn chose to reduce the citizen characters of the book
down to bits and pieces of flesh. She reimagined Phil, a character who manipulates his way into becoming a
dictator, as a monstrous hammer ready to bring down his wrath.
"Usually when you read a book, you can picture it in your head, but in this book, you are forced to interpret many
of the visuals for yourself," she said. "The strange and fantastical world gave me a lot of freedom to interpret the
characters the way I wanted."
McGlorn said working on this design project was one of the most challenging assignments she has had in the
program - making her question whether she had what it takes to work in the field.
"I think we all as people struggle with whether or not we can live up to the standards set for us," she said. "But it
feels good to meet those standards and sometimes even exceed them. Having industry leaders say my piece is
worthy of national recognition feels very affirming and gives me hope that I have a bright future ahead."
Shields said their achievements demonstrate the creative, well-rounded and competitive students in ODU's graphic
design program.
"The graphic design program has a reputation for sharply conceptual and competitive portfolios, and both of their
winning entries validate that reputation within the profession."
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