DECATUR, Ill. – Millikin University School of Art and Creative Media students were recognized for the ninth consecutive year at the regional and district level American Advertising Awards (ADDY) from the American Advertising Federation (AAF) Southern Illinois chapter. The District awards included the winners of regional gold medals from the regional chapters in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.
Millikin students received four awards at the district level, including two gold ADDYs and two silver awards. A gold ADDY recognizes the highest level of creative excellence. Entries also considered outstanding, and worthy of recognition receive a silver ADDY.
Gold ADDY award winners move on and compete at the national level against the 15 district-level winners and are honored at the National Awards Gala, held June 6, 2025, in Pittsburgh, Penn.
The American Advertising Awards is one of the industry's most significant creative competitions, attracting nearly 35,000 professional and student entries annually through local club competitions. The American Advertising Awards aim to recognize and reward the spirit of creative excellence in advertising.
Gabriel Williams and Colby Wygai each won gold at the district level. Williams, a sophomore Arts Technology major, won in the category of Elements of Advertising: Illustration for her design of the character “Arlo-Dillo.”
“I came up with this for my Character Design and Animation course. We got to make an orthographic design of a character and then make a poster to showcase them if they were in a movie. The prompt was to do an anthropomorphic character,” Williams said. “ I don't know how I got the idea for like, and Arlo is a roller derby armadillo. I challenged myself to draw a buff female character. Armadillos turned out to be very difficult to draw. You can make them look like a possum or a pig very easily. It took a lot of effort and weeks to get the nose right.”
Williams hopes to get into animation after graduating, and the in-class project helped hone her skills that she’ll use for future creations.
“I want to try to do something art-related, and I love creating characters and stories,” Williams said. “I really wanted to take it because the whole course allowed me to expand my knowledge and see my limitations on what I could do.”
Williams also won a district silver medal in the “Elements Of Advertising: Illustration” category, and Jacob Habel won a silver regional for his Open AI glasses special effects. Please add him to the silver regional list.
Wygai won a gold medal in the “Elements Of Advertising: Still Photography” category for a set of chill-inducing photos that could inspire nightmares. The black and white “Shadows of Horror” photo narrative series features a shadowy axe-wielding character in a settings you wouldn’t want to find yourself.
Six Millikin students and a student venture won gold Southern Illinois chapter regional ADDYs in the following categories:
(Elements of Advertising: Illustration, Elements of Advertising: Illustration- Campaign), Katie Kocan (2) (Elements of Advertising: Still Photography), John Wyatt (Out Of Home & Ambient Media: Poster), Colby Wygai (Elements Of Advertising: Still Photography), Joey Huizenga (Elements Of Advertising: Still Photography), and Crux May (Elements Of Advertising: Still Photography).
1901 Productions, the Millikin student-run motion-picture studio focused on creating narrative video and cinema content, won three gold regional ADDYs (Elements of Advertising: Art Direction (2) and Elements of Advertising: Film, Video & Sound).
Eight Millikin students and a student publication won Southern Illinois chapter silver ADDYs at the regional level in the following categories:
Jacob Habel (Elements of Advertising: Film, Video & Sound); Joey Huizenga (2) (Sales & Marketing: Sales Promotion and Publication Design); Elizabeth Hulick (Elements of Advertising: Still Photography); Katie Kocan (Elements of Advertising: Cinematography); Crux May (Cross-Platform: Integrated Brand Identity Campaign); Anna Wegrzyn (Elements of Advertising: Digital Creative Technology); John Wyatt (Elements of Advertising: Digital Creative Technology); Colby Wygai (2) (Elements of Advertising: Illustration and Film, Video & Sound); and Burst Magazine (Sales & Marketing Material: Collateral).
