Graduate student Conner Gayda has become the second student in JSU history to win a national ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation.
Gayda, who is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at JSU in the Department of Art and Design, was entered in the national ADDYs after winning Best in Show in the student competition of the Birmingham ADDYs in February - where he also won the Judges Special Award traditionally given to professional designers.
During the national awards gala in St. Louis in June, Gayda was awarded a Silver ADDY in the Typeface Design category for a font he created that honors the history of black baseball in Birmingham, called the Satchel font.
“I’m just very grateful for Professor Chad Anderson, who was so helpful and supportive to this project,” Gayda said. “He is a great teacher and mentor.”
The ADDYs are the advertising industry's largest and most representative competition, honoring the creative spirit of excellence in the art of advertising. The first JSU student to win a national ADDY was Stefanie Cobb, who was awarded a Silver ADDY in 2020for her MFA thesis project, “Ex Libris: Reimagining the Literary Experience Through Artifactual Storytelling and Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’.”
Gayda is a multi-disciplinary designer who focuses on visual identity design, typography, UI/UX and motion. Originally from Tyrone, Ga., he earned a BFA in graphic design from Samford University in 2021 before enrolling in graduate school at JSU. He serves as a graduate teaching assistant and is currently interning at Tatum Design in Birmingham, Ala. He is scheduled to graduate in 2024.
