UK Students Sweep AEJMC Logo Contest

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 13, 2017) — Students from the Department of Integrated Strategic Communication (ISC) in the University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information swept the logo design competition at this year’s 2017 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference.

ISC students won first, second and third places in the competition. First place went to Paige Heidorf, second place went to Jonathan Herrera and third place went to Alexi Mojsejenko. Heidorf’s design will be the official logo for the 2018 conference, which will be held Aug. 6-9, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

For the past three years, ISC students have won individual AEJMC logo design awards, including first and second place two years in a row.

The logo for the 100th AEJMC conference held recently in Chicago was created by UK ISC student Peter Smith, whose design won first place last year and features an interpretation of the Chicago skyline reflected on the iconic Cloud Gate sculpture. UK ISC student Stephanie Sherman also took second place at last year’s conference.

The annual logo contest is a national competition for which students submit original designs. The winning student’s design becomes the official conference logo and is featured on all promotional materials for the conference, including print and web. The logo contest is sponsored by the Visual Communication Division of the AEJMC. Students who win first place receive a $100 prize.

Adrian Grumbein, assistant professor in the ISC department, has served as faculty sponsor for all UK ISC students who have taken part in the competition over the last three years. The logos were created in her ISC 497 class, which focuses on graphic design for ISC. 

“What I might be most proud of — it’s so hard to choose — is that, for many students, taking this graphic design class may be the first time they have ever dipped their toe into design and designing this logo may be the first time they have ever worked in Adobe Illustrator,” Grumbein said. “I have entered my students’ work in this contest for the past three years, and we have placed each year. This year, we took first, second and third! I am so proud of how much time and effort students put into understanding the theory, learning the programs and fine-tuning the details. Each year I challenge them, and each year they rise to the occasion."

“Dr. Grumbein is one of the best teachers I've ever had! She pushed me to think about things differently, which has really helped with my design work and no other art class has ever helped me as much as her ISC class has!” Mojsejenko said.

The 2017 AEJMC conference took place in Chicago from Aug. 9-12. The aim of this conference is to bring together journalism and mass communication educators, students and professionals to share the latest research, discuss best practices and promote communication in the field. The theme this year was “Closing the Gap: Media, Research, and the Profession.”