My Creative Mentor

LAC Students Take Home Four ADDY Awards

“It’s all about the art of the message", reports College Director Debra Hooper. “We won in this tough advertising competition because the goal at the College is to develop great content skills. We are moving students beyond learning Photoshop techniques to exciting audiences with stories and images that count.”





Living Arts College @ School of Communication Arts (LAC) students took home four awards at the 2010 Triangle ADDY Awards. The awards were announced and hosted by legendary Advertising Executive, Charlotte Beers. It was a fun-filled Gala evening at the ADDYs honoring LAC students Nicole Litts, Geoff Helderman and Austin Burley in student categories.

Nicole Litts received a gold ADDY and was “Best in Show” for her TV spot for the Truth.com campaign on anti-smoking and “Mothers with Birth Defects.” Two Silver ADDY awards were presented to Geoff Helderman, “Drunk Driving Prevention Ad” and Austin Burley for the typographic illustration of “Christopher Walken”. LAC is thrilled to honor the students and the recognition they will receive in pursuing careers in the interactive media industry.






“Support from Instructors was tremendous and helped me shape my creative concepts into digital media.” – Nicole Litts

"Winning this award is a true benchmark in my life. Not only can I look at it proudly, I can also smile knowing this is only the beginning." – Austin Burley

“It was a true honor to win an award for a project I put so much time and effort into. Working on the MADD campaign was a great experience.” – Geoff Helderman








College staff includes professionals who are representative of the talent and strength of the local Raleigh ADDY Award group--American Advertising Federation. Michael Winslow, Creative Director at LAC is the recipient of the 2009 AAF Silver Medal Award, recognizing men and women who have made outstanding contributions to advertising and who have been active in furthering the industry’s creative standards. Winslow participates in developing the College’s special focus on design content. “Our programs incorporate the talents of staff members like Michael Winslow, who transfer years of practical content know-how to critiquing portfolios. This is why we have developed a Greenlight process for mentoring student development,” reports College Director Debra Hooper.