Ball State claimed a professional Gold Award, a student Gold Award and a student Best of Show at the regional ADDY awards ceremony this past weekend in Chicago. The awards were presented by the American Advertising Federation (AAF) District Six.

University Communications staff members Susan Holloway, Ron McVey, Heather Shupp, Layne Cameron, Marissa Emerson, Gwen Cobb Kousari, John Huffer and Michael Hickey won the Gold Award for "How Do We Measure Excellence?" The President's Report 2004. Primary photographer for the project was Michael Mauer of Muncie. Photographer John Bragg of Indianapolis also contributed to the project.

The President's Report is a year-end report in which President Jo Ann M. Gora highlights the university's achievements during the previous academic year. "How Do We Measure Excellence?" included a unique "pocket publication" that was inserted into a pocket of the report but also worked as a stand-alone piece that was sent to university presidents and provosts across the country.

Student winners were Fishers residents Jon-Tyler Core, a junior majoring in telecommunications, and Bobby Richards, a senior majoring in theater and minoring in digital media. They won a Student Gold Award and Student Overall Best of Show.

Their entry, "Reflex: The Funny Years," a collection of performances by an improvisational/sketch comedy troupe, was developed in a telecommunications class under the direction of adjunct faculty member Jason Higgs. John Dailey, telecommunications professor, was a faculty adviser. Richards has been a member of the comedy group for five years.

Both teams were first honored Feb. 18 at the local ADDY awards program, sponsored by the Advertising Federation of East Central Indiana. Ball State employees and students received 11 local awards during the 2006 contest.

The winners from District Six , which includes the states of Illinois, Michigan and Indiana, will be forwarded to the National ADDY Awards competition to be held in April in Washington D.C. National winners will be announced in June at the AAF ADDY Awards Banquet in June.

The ADDY awards are the largest and most representative competition in the nation's advertising industry, recognizing creative excellence in the art of advertising. About 60,000 entries are submitted every year in local ADDY competitions across the country.

(Note to editors: For more information on the President's Report visit www.bsu.edu/annualreport or contact Holloway at shollowa@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5949. For more information on the student winners, contact Nancy Carlson, chair of the telecommunications department, at ncarlson@bsu.edu or (765) 285-1489. For more stories, visit the Ball State University News Center at www.bsu.edu/news.)