ST. JOHN’S, NL – Students of the Graphic Design program at College of the North Atlantic (CNA) took home eight awards in the student category at the annual International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Pinnacle Awards, while the college’s Marketing, Communications and Recruitment Department received four awards.
The Pinnacle Awards, presented by IABC’s Newfoundland and Labrador Chapter, are rigorously evaluated to measure excellence in communications.
The students took home three Awards of Excellence and five Awards of Merit for their designs.
Amy Brenton of Winterland received an Award of Excellence for The Raven as well as an Award of Merit for the Downtown Comics Watermark; Shannon Pomeroy of St. John’s won an Award of Excellence for her Silver Linings Wordmark Design, as well as an Award of Merit for The Pursuit of Knowledge: An Unfunny Tragic Comedy; and, Hilary Cooper of Trinity East was given an Award of Excellence for the Brewery Brand Identity.
College of the North Atlantic took home 12 awards from the International Association of Business Communicators Pinnacle Awards in June. Winning eight awards from the student category were (from left) Mayara Rosa Baiao, Shannon Pomeroy, Amy Brenton and Jessica Roche. (Missing from photo Kevin Rogers-Sparks.)
“It feels encouraging to be validated and celebrated by a field that I was far less familiar with before entering the CNA Graphic Design program,” Pomeroy said. “The Pinnacle Awards provide excellent practice for students in terms of justifying our creative output as it pertains to business and marketing.”
Brenton says she felt surprised by the win, but it has brought a sense of accomplishment.
“I started this program with no background in this field whatsoever. I put 100 per cent of my effort into this course to improve and learn,” Brenton explained. “So, when I was granted with awards for my work, I felt a pride in myself that I used my time to my absolute advantage! I am very glad I applied to the Pinnacle Awards and I encourage future students to do the same.”
Rounding out the Awards of Merit student winners were Jessica Roche of Holyrood for Apex Magazine, Kevin Rogers-Sparkes of St. John’s for the Privacy UI Design and Mayara Rosa Baiao of Itaperuna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for Bloom Brewing.
The college’s Marketing, Communications and Recruitment Department took home four Awards of Merit from IABC’s Communications Skills Division for the 2020 Virtual Graduation project in the categories of Digital Communication Channels, Audio Visual, Special Events – Internal, and Special Events – External.
College of the North Atlantic’s Marketing, Communications and Recruitment Department took home four Awards of Merit from the International Association of Business Communicators Pinnacle Awards for their work on the 2020 Virtual Graduation project.
With the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic and a province-wide lockdown, holding CNA’s traditional, in-person graduation ceremonies wasn’t possible with health restrictions in place; therefore, the college needed to pivot and create a virtual ceremony for over 2,000 graduates.
The department developed a microsite to act as the graduation hub, providing an engaging multi-media experience for the 17 campus locations and Distributed Learning students.
“Our department created a place that featured more than just a space for graduating students to watch a virtual rollcall of their names across a screen,” said Roger Hulan, CNA’s Manager of Marketing, Communications and Recruitment. “The microsite was an interactive experience which recognized the dedication it took for our students to complete their programs, particularly during this unprecedented time.”
The microsite allowed people to share well wishes, submit photos of their time at CNA, and download social media games and other elements to demonstrate how proud they were of CNA's graduates. It was also the virtual space to house and watch the five graduation videos for each of CNA’s five schools of study and a means to connect with the students.
According to Hulan, the project shattered the department’s projected audience reach and propelled the microsite to the top place for visits to the website with over 150 per cent more page views than the homepage during a one-week span – over 25,000 visits in total.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our in-house creative team,” Hulan said. “These Awards of Merit from the Pinnacle Awards are a great acknowledgment of the hard work of our multimedia team consisting of website, video, and design.”
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Media Contact:
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
709.643.6408
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca