There are three responses to a piece of design—yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.
milton glaser • famed graphic designer and educator
Design Competitions
Design competitions promote team building, creativity, and superb craftsmanship, boost morale, elevate team rapport, and start careers. Furthermore, winning brings validation—and it feels great! Additionally, Submitting work to design competitions is a fantastic exercise for any design studio or creative agency because it demands time, resources, collaboration, and patience. Since Genaro was a design student, his professors encouraged him to participate in design competitions. Genaro often refers to design competitions as his happy place.
Design competitions have helped him improve, market, validate, and celebrate his work. They have also been a great resource in encouraging his team, colleagues, and students to participate. But more importantly, receiving recognition in design competitions is the best way to thank clients who have trusted the designers’ skills and services.
PROFESSIONAL ACCOLADES
Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) | American GD Award | Brangea Identity |
LogoLounge 14 | Published | Invisible Guardian |
Graphis Design Annual 2023 | Silver Award | Miners’ Brew. Legacy79 self-promotional |
Graphis Design Annual 2023 | Silver Award | Brangea Identity |
Graphis Design Annual 2023 | Honorable Mention | TXdocs Identity |
Graphis Packaging 10 | Honorable Mention | Miners’ Beer. Legacy79 self-promotional |
Graphis Journal 371 | Featured | Concept is king. Education article |
AAF—10th District 2021 | Silver Award | Legacy 79 Miner’s Journal |
AAF—San Antonio 2021 | Silver Award | Legacy 79 Miner’s Journal |
LogoLounge 12 | Published | Drinks on US logo |
LogoLounge 12 | Featured | TXST Trademark Design class showcased |
Graphis Design Annual 2021 | Silver Award | Drinks on US self-promotional |
AAF—San Antonio 2020 | Gold Award | Drinks on US self-promotional |
AAF—San Antonio 2020 | Silver Award | Classical Music Institute website |
Graphis Advertising Annual 2020 | Silver Award | Vote print advertisement |
Graphis Design Annual 2020 | Honorable Mention | Tenshoshade Identity |
Graphis Design Annual 2020 | Honorable Mention | Dream Today Tomorrow, The Doseum Exhibition logo |
Graphis Poster Annual 2020 | Honorable Mention | For Mexico poster |
LogoLounge 11 | Published | Vote logo |
LogoLounge 11 | Published | Enterprise Solutions proposed logo |
Graphis Design Annual 2019 | Gold Award | Marioli Mexican Cuisine logo |
Graphis Poster Annual 2019 | Honorable Mention | Vote poster |
Graphis Design Annual 2018 | Honorable Mention | Tacoart logo |
AAF—National 2018 | Gold Award | 50/50 logo |
AAF—10th District 2018 | Silver Award | 50/50 logo |
AAF—San Antonio 2018 | Gold Award | 50/50 logo |
LogoLounge Master Library Type | Published | Stay Dog Hotel logo |
Good 50×70 | Finalist / Published | Fin—Greenpeace poster |
Good 50×70 | Finalist / Published | Play for Africa poster |
LogoLounge 7 | Published | Art + Baking logo |
LogoLounge 7 | Published | Fin—Greenpeace logo |
LogoLounge 7 | Published | Marioli Catering logo |
LogoLounge 6 | Published | Red Caboose Hobby Store logo |
LogoLounge 6 | Published | Stay Dog Hotel logo |
LogoLounge Master Library Symbols | Published | Equilibrio Design and Advertising logo |
Winning awards means it’s no longer your instructors, friends, or parents saying your work is good. It’s the professionals saying that your work is good.
mel white • instructor syracouse university
Student Design Competitions
Genaro believes student design competitions are great for promoting the students’ work, course outcomes, and design program reputation. More importantly, they validate the students’ work, build their confidence, and develop pride and camaraderie. Lastly, Genaro led the Design Competition Committee of the Communication Design program during his tenure at Texas State University for a couple of years.
STUDENT ADJUDICATIONS UNDER GENARO’S MENTORSHIP
AAF—San Antonio 2019 | 1 Best of Student Show |
AAF—San Antonio 2020 | 1 Judges Choice Award |
AAF—San Antonio | 11 Addys |
AAF—10th District | 1 Addy |
AIGA Flux | 13 Adjudications |
GDUSA | 6 Adjudications |
Graphis New Talent | 441 Adjudications |
LogoLounge | 20 Published logos |
National Student Show & Conference | 10 Adjudications |
STUDENT TESTIMONIALS
Entering student competitions allows you to showcase and start a name for yourself within the design community. Constantly having your work reviewed and scrutinized as a student can be draining and make you feel unworthy as a designer. On the other hand, having the opportunity to win awards and recognition for my work helped show that consistency and hard work paid off in the end. Entering competitions has made me a stronger, more confident, and more competitive designer.
In my first few years in the Com Des program, I always looked up to the students who entered competitions and got recognition. As time passed and professors encouraged me to enter my designs in competitions, my self-confidence and work ethic grew stronger. I pushed myself to work hard and told myself that my designs were worth the recognition too. Furthermore, receiving my first award was fulfilling and gave me the confidence to trust my design eye more than I thought I should. Finally, I’m so glad I pushed past the stress and anxiety of deadlines and self-doubt because it paid off in the long run. I am published in Graphis and have awards throughout various national and international design competitions.
I felt ecstatic when I found out I was published, and it reassured me that I was headed in the right direction in terms of my career and that I could really make it in the field of design. It’s also reaffirming that the messages I’m trying to convey in my designs come across as I intend.
Competition in any form is always fun. I really enjoy having a chance to see how my work compares to others in my field.
Seeing my work published gave me a sense of validation that my work in class is meaningful. Consequently, the whole competition process makes all the time and hard work we spend on projects worth it, especially when respected professionals award you.
Seeing the TOP COM DES exhibition was a great eye-opener for the level of work I needed to aspire to. I walked away from the gallery thinking: “If they could do it, I can do it too.” A year later, I have been published, won awards, and gained confidence in my skills that I didn’t have before competitions. It was a unique chance to see how I measured up against other students and schools but against professionals in the industry.
When my professors showed me award-winning work by students in the program, I thought it was amazing. It was such a huge accomplishment, but I couldn’t imagine that being me. I was reluctant to enter competitions when my time came because I didn’t think my projects were good enough. I’m so glad my professors encouraged me to, because my work has been awarded, recognized, and published by not only students but professionals in the field of design. It has given me the validation I needed to feel confident transitioning from student to designer in a couple of months!
For me, competitions are really fun, exciting, and in the end, super validating! I like the idea of putting good work against each other and letting a judge decide. In the end, I like seeing all the work that the judges choose, whether mine made it or not. Being published was a wonderful feeling, but being able to include the entry onto my resume for superior! The competitive nature is really good in design, as we all work to outdo each other. Competitions have turned into a wonderful investment, with many payouts! Thanks for making them a part of ComDes.
Entering competitions and putting my work out into the world have changed how I approach my projects. It has made me realize that my work should represent who I am as a designer—whether I’m submitting it for a grade or to a judge.
Competitions give me a platform to showcase my work and allow me to have a glimpse of others’ work in the field. My competitive nature enables me to build confidence and pushes me to achieve more.
Having my work published has opened up a lot more doors to different careers and opportunities. It feels awesome getting recognition from designers outside of the university.
Being able to enter design competitions validates that I chose the right career path. It’s an awesome feeling to be able to see your designs published alongside other designers.
Competitions build up your endurance to just take a chance, put yourself out there, and continue doing so over and over again. The time and effort spent entering competitions always pay off. They’ve helped me more effortlessly explain and prepare my work, thus equipping me for all the opportunities that lay ahead.
You didn’t choose this industry to be shy about your ideas. Student competitions offer a great platform to put yourself out there and grow as a young designer.
Participating in competitions is an opportunity to have your work viewed and appreciated in a real-world environment. Furthermore, seeing my work in the TOP COM DES Exhibition was eye-opening in that even a small personal project, as leisurely as the process was, turned out to be more rewarding than possibly anticipated. In conclusion, It reinforced my interests, gaining further confidence in the path I have chosen for my future career.
Competitions are like the icing on the cake. It’s validation for all of the hard work that you’ve done and makes you feel a part of something greater. Plus, it’s pretty dope when you kick butt against some really great designers.
STUDENT DESIGN COMPETITIONS
AIGA FLUX • Baltimore | November • fluxdesigncompetition.org |
American Advertising Federation • Austin | October • austinadfed.com |
American Advertising Federation • San Antonio | December • adfedsa.org |
Communication Arts—Advertising | May • commarts.com |
Communication Arts—Design | July • commarts.com |
Communication Arts—Typography | September • commarts.com |
Communication Arts—Interactive | October • commarts.com |
Communication Arts—Illustration | January • commarts.com |
Communication Arts—Photography | March • commarts.com |
Communication Arts—Student Showcase | September • commarts.com |
Creative Quarterly | October • cqjournal.com |
The Dieline Student Week | August • thedieline.com |
Graphic Design USA | October • gdusa.com |
Graphis New Talent | September—January • graphis.com |
LogoLounge | April • logolounge.com |
Maura Rose Kampa Scholarship | June • austin.aiga.org |
National Student Show & Conference • Dallas | February • nationalstudentshow.com |
Poster for Tomorrow | June • posterfortomorrow.org |
January–February • printawards.co | |
Young Ones—One Show, ADC, TDC, and Portfolio | March • youngones.org |