The Society of Publication Designers

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Announcing our 2023 Student Competition Winners!

After our virtual judging, we’ve picked the top winners in our 2023 SPD-U Student Competition! We’ll be announcing them over the next week and updating the list here. Special thanks to our judges Steven Banks, Heather Jones, Tim Leong, Alice Morgan, and Robert Perino for taking the time to review all of this year’s submissions and to our Student Competition Committee Chairs David Cooper and Josue Evilla for organizing.

This competition marked the 25th year of hosting our annual SPD-U Student Competition. After multiple rounds of virtual judging and Zoom meetings, our panel of judges carefully chose their picks from all the great student work submitted. They selected first, second, and third-place winners as well as some noteworthy entries. Click their names below to see the winning work.

Special thanks to Rebellion Design Co. for sponsoring the 2023 SPD-U Scholarship for our Design winner and Heart for sponsoring the 2023 SPD-U Scholarship for our Illustration winner!

Congratulations to all of our winners and to all the wonderful entries we received!


First Place - Design


Aspen Gengenbacher

School: Missouri School of Journalism
Level: Senior
Instructor: Tom White
Category: Fashion/Lifestyle

First Place - Illustration


Isabel Foley

School: University of Delaware
Level: Senior
Instructor: David Brinley
Category: Editorial

First Place - Photography


Natalie Schmidt

School: University of Delaware
Level: Junior
Instructor: David Brinley
Category: Portrait


Second Place - Design


Kylie Mena

School: Kean University
Level: Senior
Instructors: Nancy Cambell and Trevett McCandliss
Category: How-To

Second Place - Illustration


Bowen Shao

School: University of Delaware
Level: Senior
Instructor: David Brinley
Category: GIFs

Second Place - Photography


Katie Park

School: Cooper Union
Level: Senior
Instructor: Mackenzie Stroh
Category: Conceptual


Third Place - Design


Emma Stoecklein

School: Ringling College of Art + Design
Level: Junior
Instructor: Polly Johnson
Category: How-To

Third Place - Illustration


Simon Dart-Kelly

School: North Metropolitan TAFE
Level: Senior
Instructor: Brendan Hibbert
Category: Portrait


Noteworthy - Design


Katie Cornwell

School: Norwich University of the Arts
Level: Senior
Instructor: Glen Robinson
Category: Fashion/Lifestyle

Megan Greenacre

School: Norwich University of the Arts
Level: Senior
Instructor: Glen Robinson
Category: Sport/Adventure

Danielle Pereira

School: Rider University
Level: Senior
Instructor: John Paone
Category: How-To

Noteworthy - Illustration


Moy Zhong

School: University of Missouri - Columbia
Level: Senior
Instructor: Tom White
Category: Editorial

Cara McDonald

School: University of Delaware
Level: Junior
Instructor: David Brinley
Category: Conceptual