MSUSND competition winners announced

  • May 28, 2021
Society for News Design

The Michigan State University Design Contest for College Students began in 2000 as a way for students to enter work done not only for a campus publication, but also projects done for a class, a job or an internship.There are a number of beginning student designers who have demonstrated incredible talent, but they do so in the classroom or at a part-time job. In much the same way, some of the most talented visual journalists—for a variety of reasons—do not work at their campus newspaper. These students are usually ineligible for other college design competitions, where contest rules often limit entries to work done for a student newspaper or magazine. The MSU Design Contest was established to give those other students a voice in a national competition.

Images of all the winners can be found on the MSUSND website.

Congrats to the winners and thank you to all who entered!

Category 1: Front Page Design

First place: Elliott DeRose, Ball State University

Second place: Maggie Getzin, Ball State University

Third place: Elliott DeRose, Ball State University

Honorable Mention: Maddie Monroe, Michigan State University


Category 2: Sports page design

First place: Shannon Kirkpatrick, Sarah Allam, Syracuse University

Second place: Maggie Getzin, Ball State University

Third place: Katie Getman, Syracuse University


Category 3: Feature Page Design

First place: Stephanie Mayer, University of North Carolina

Second place: Sofia Capettini, University of Alberta

Third place: Nabeeha Anwar, Syracuse University

Honorable Mention: JoJo Yang, University of North Carolina


Category 4: Special sections

First place: Olivia Ginsberg, University of Miami

Second place: Etta Gerrits, Carleton University

Third place: Sofia Alba, Evan Davison, Modupe Fabilola, Gina Flow, Michael Gawlik, Hailey Haymond, Stephanie Mayer, Kendal Orrantia, Katherine Ozturk, Shubha Parekh, Jill Pownall, Kelli Rainer, Alicia Robbins, Anna Roberts, Jadah Smith, University of North Carolina

Honorable Mention: Wesley Harwood, Molly Cummings, Rebecca Fiely. Deborah Gardner, Michael Gawlik, Zoe Hambley, Hailey Haymond, Julia Haynes, Emily Sutton, Claire Willmschen, University of North Carolina


Category 5: Magazine Cover

First place: Wesley Harwood, University of North Carolina

Second place: Emma Hole, University of Alberta

Third place: Meredith Ammons, University of North Carolina

Honorable Mention: Elliott DeRose, Ball State University

Honorable Mention: Halle Garrett, Kendra Frankle, Savannah College of Art and Design


Category 6: Magazine Spread

First place: Kendal Orrantia, University of North Carolina

Second place: Amy Metzinger, JoJo Yang, University of North Carolina

Third place: Elliott DeRose, Ball State University

Honorable Mention: Khushboo Nayak, Katsy Garcia, Savannah College of Art and Design

Honorable Mention: Yingxin Cui, University of North Carolina


Category 7: Alternate Story Form

First place: Mingxuan Shen, University of North Carolina

Second place: Stephanie Mayer, University of North Carolina

Third place: Amanda Weisbrod, Ohio University

Honorable Mention: Leighann Vinesett, University of North Carolina


Category 8: Art & Illustration

First place: Kat Ash, Savannah College of Art and Design

Second place: An Bui, University of Alberta

Third place: Wesley Harwood, University of North Carolina

Honorable Mention: Shubha Parekh, University of North Carolina

Honorable Mention: Nabeeha Anwar, Syracuse University

Honorable Mention: Sara Mizannojehdehi, Carleton University

Honorable Mention: Wesley Harwood, University of North Carolina


Category 9: Digital Storytelling

First place: Ali Harford, Syracuse University

Second place: Kevin Camelo, Syracuse University

Third place: Caroline Almy, Caroline Almy, Alicia Carter, Lucia Castro, Nash Consing, Veronica Correa, Malin Curry, Hope Davison, Dustin Duong, Michael Gawlik, Hadley Green, Haley France, Madison Hoffmann, Molly Horak, Rachel McKinney, Meg McMahon, Will Melfi, Samantha Perry, Lucas Pruitt, Sarah Redmond, Jeremiah Rhodes, Emily Caroline Sartin, Ari Sen, Halynna Snyder, Taylor Tyson, Drew Wayland, Matthew Westmoreland, Hanna Wondmagegn, University of North Carolina


Category 10: Infographics

First place: Gina Flow, University of North Carolina

Second place: Allison Holbrooks, University of North Carolina

Third place: Amanda Weisbrod, Ohio University

Honorable Mention: Sofia Alba, University of North Carolina

Honorable Mention: Kelli Rainer, University of North Carolina

Honorable Mention: Brooke Stanley, Ohio University


Category 11: Promotions & Advertising

First place: Keely Broderick, Michigan State University

Second place: Raney Wilson, University of North Carolina

Third place: Sanchita Singh, Savannah College of Art and Design


Category 12: Standalone Multimedia

First place: Connor Rothschild, Rice University

Second place: Sam Berlin, Amber Morrison, Madison Snyder, Syracuse University

Third place: Madison O’Connor, Michigan State University

Honorable Mention: Michael Gawlik, University of North Carolina


Category 13: Best Designed Magazine

First place: SCAN Magazine, Staff, Savannah College of Art and Design – Atlanta

Second place: Jerk Magazine, Staff, Syracuse University

Third place: Distraction Magazine, Staff, University of Miami

Honorable Mention: Mosaic, Staff, Loyola University Chicago


Category 14: Best Designed Website

First place: The NewsHouse, Staff, Syracuse University

Second place: The Connector, Staff, Savannah College of Art and Design – Atlanta

Third place: District, Staff, Savannah College of Art and Design – Savannah


Category 15: Best Student Newspaper

First place: The Daily Orange, Syracuse University


Category 16: Designer of the Year

First place: Khushboo Nayak, Savannah College of Art and Design

Second place: Sofia Capettini, University of Alberta

Third place: Giselle Spicer, University of Miami


The judges

We want to thank our judges who have agreed to critique our entries. We couldn’t do it without you! They are:

Chris Courtney, Founder, New Pragmatic

Chris is the founder of the online education platform, NewPragmatic.com. With free curriculum and hundreds of video tutorials, the platform makes design education more accessible to more people. Prior to creating New Pragmatic, he led online design programs for Bloc.io and Thinkful.com.Chris’s design career began in media, starting at the Tulsa World and Indianapolis Star before spending 14 years building digital and print products for the Tribune Company.

Julie Elman, Professor + Graduate Director, Ohio University, School of Visual Communication

Brian Gross, Deputy Design Director, The Washington Post

Bjorn Heselius, Principal Designer, Nitor

Stefanie KienstraTheWalt Disney Company

Luis Rendon, Senior Designer, New York Post

Luis graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University in 2010 where he worked at the student-run newspaper, the Daily Orange. He’s worked on business pages at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, news pages at the Victoria Advocate and sports pages at the San Francisco Chronicle and currently lives in Brooklyn, NYC, working from home on features pages for the New York Post.

Yuri Victor, Senior Editor for Storytelling, The Atlantic

Yuri is Senior Editor of Storytelling at The Atlantic. Previously, he’s worked in the largest U.S. newsrooms at the intersection of design, engineering, and news. He lives in New York City.

Randy Yeip, Deputy Graphics Editor, The Wall Street Journal

Randy is deputy graphics director for The Wall Street Journal, helping to lead a team of data and visual journalists. His work has focused primarily on national politics and elections. Randy started at the Journal in 2005, following a stint at the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Michigan State University.

Andrea Zagata, News Designer, The New York Times

Andrea is a news designer at The New York Times. She graduated from Michigan State school of journalism in 2010 and has previously worked at The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Buffalo News and The Detroit News. She lives in Manhattan with four cats and a puppy.