UA Students Win International Advertising Pitch Contest

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Three advertising students from The University of Alabama are the 2015 winners of The One Club’s annual Client Pitch Competition, a contest that draws entries from around the world.

Ashley Atkinson, of Panama City, Florida, Kristin Clark, of Trussville, and Julia Hoven, of Northport, submitted a five-minute video summarizing their pitch related to children and technology and were chosen as one of five finalist teams who presented their pitches before a jury of agency creative professionals in New York City.

The other finalists came from schools in England, Sweden and the United States.

“We chose to focus on an organization called ‘The Trevor Project,’ a suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youth,” said Clark, who was an art director on the project. “The Trevor Project hosts an online community called ‘TrevorSpace’ that needed greater functionality. We decided it was our job to give it a makeover.”

Dr. Glenn Griffin mentored the students during their APR 418 Advanced Advertising Development course and also traveled with them to New York for their presentation as part of the annual A+PR in NYC program.

“I’m proud that these students brought a real sense of social responsibility as well as a lot of talent to this exercise,” Griffin said.

“Putting together a project of this magnitude incorporates just about everything they’ve learned as advertising majors here at UA, and I’m so grateful for the influence our entire faculty has had on their growth as aspiring professionals.”

Dr. Joseph Phelps, chair of the department of advertising and public relations, said he was tremendously proud of the way the students represented the department on a global scale.

“Awards like this show that Alabama’s advertising students have the skills to compete with their peers from around the world — and win,” Phelps said.

“I’m proud of the students’ work and the ability of our faculty to help our students achieve the extraordinary,” Phelps said. “As great as this win is for the students, I am even prouder that the work they submitted could be used to save lives. That type of ‘good work’ is the biggest win of all.”

Atkinson (copywriter for the campaign), Clark and Hoven (an art director for the campaign) were each offered multiple interviews with top New York City advertising agencies following their win, which also earned them a One Show Gold Pencil and a cash prize.

The three are May 2015 graduates from UA.