By Felipe Montano |Staff Writer|

Suner Mauerhan and Sarah Bither were honored with silver awards from the American Advertising Awards (ADDY’s).
The silver award is at the district level, and now that they have placed, these students will now be able to compete at the national sector.

 
Mauerhan, a graphic design student at CSUSB, won her silver award in the poster department.

 
She had previously won the regional competition for her packaging design of Topo Chico and a poster.

 
As Mauerhan progressed into the district level, it was her poster that marked her entry into nationals.
“I am very grateful to have my work acknowledged by the design community,” stated Mauerhan.

 
Suner created her poster, “Literature with a Voice,” as an interpretation on how a children’s book can shape imagination. She used her inspiration of children’s books to drive her art work and succeeded in doing so.

 
“I wanted to make the impression of an actual book to life so I constructed the pictured book sculpture out of children’s books and photographed it,” stated Mauerhan.

 
This use of creativity certainly caught the eye of the judges and allowed Suner a place in the nationals competition.

 
Sarah Bither, also a recipient of the silver award, was in the packaging category.

 
Sarah had recently graduated from CSUSB with a Bachelor of Art in graphic design when she received her nomination.

 
“Winning this award is a very personal achievement to me. I absolutely could not, and would not have gotten to this point without the support and encouragement from my professors, my classmates, and the faculty here at CSUSB,” stated Bither.

 
The ADDY awards is a nationally run competition that includes a variety of categories, all designed “to recognize and reward the creative spirit of excellence in the art of advertising,” according to their website, admericaaaf.org.

 
The ADDYs are divided into a three-tiered competition, with local ad clubs taking in the first round of competitors.

 
Following this, the winners then compete at the district level, i.e. Inland Empire.
As winners in their respective categories, these CSUSB ladies will now be entered to compete on the national stage.

 
“It’s a terrific opportunity for our coyote design students to take part in a professional competition and to meet, talk with, and show work to industry leaders,” stated Art Department Chair Matthew Poole.
This competition will bring notoriety to the Arts here at CSUSB and celebrate the exciting work that our talented students have to offer.

 
One of the mentors for the winners, Jacob Poore (Coyote Advertising) stated, ”This year, the Inland Empire competition had a record number of student entries, growing to the eighth largest student advertising competition in America. Not only the quantity but the quality of entries this year was remarkable.”

 
The American Advertising Awards will be held on June 7, 2016 at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.