Newhouse Creative Advertising Students Win an Impressive 18 Awards at Addy Competition

On Feb. 22, Newhouse creative advertising students triumphed at the 2025 Addy competition in Rochester, New York, snagging 18 of the 22 student awards, including all three Best in Show scholarships worth $500, $750 and $1,250.

By winning three Best in Show scholarships, eight Golds, six Silvers and a Mosaic Award, Newhouse creative advertising students demonstrated they have their creativity down to an art.

Sixteen of the 18 awards came from campaigns created in professor of practice Mel White‘s Portfolio I and III courses taught to creative advertising majors at the Newhouse School. Two awards originated from a campaign created in adjunct instructor Dan Lombardi’s Portfolio I course.

“The work clearly demonstrates how much our creative advertising students have grown creatively through their coursework. It was a privilege to see them take the Addy 2025 stage as winners,” said White.

Through their comprehensive education at Newhouse, these students have sharpened their conceptual thinking and refined their craft, whether training as art directors or copywriters in the program. All their award-winning work was displayed in the 2025 Addy Awards Showbook.

“My Opia” for 21Grams Wins Best in Show and Two Gold Addys

“My Opia” won a Best in Show $1,250 scholarship and first Gold Addy in the Student Elements of Advertising Art Direction category. It won a second Gold Addy in the Student Online Interactive App Mobile category.

This campaign addresses a growing problem: Generation Z’s screen addiction that is increasingly worsening their vision, sometimes even leading to an eye condition called myopia, where vision is permanently worsened due to screen time.

Art director Remi Tsunoda and copywriter Avery Schildhaus came up with an ultra-creative fix to this problem: a digital pet named Opia. The catch? Opia thrives when the phone is off. The less screen time, the happier your pet and your eyes.

Each user’s Opia has a juice bar that decreases the more time they spend on their phone. If the juice runs out, the Opia literally leaves to go fishing, rod in hand. With a quirky widget friend that rewards users for cutting back on their screen time, this Best in Show and two-time Gold-winning campaign deserves its accolades, successfully addressing a serious issue with levity. This was created in Portfolio III taught by White.

“Buzz Off!” for Off Wins Best in Show, Gold and Silver Addy

“Buzz Off!” won a Best in Show $500 scholarship and a Gold Addy in the Student Elements of Advertising Art Direction category. It also won a Silver Addy in the Student Print Ad Campaign Magazine category.

“Buzz Off!” by art director Daniel Arougheti sends mosquitoes packing, with suitcase in hand, as they leave the campsite, woods and dock in defeat. It shows that Off bug spray doesn’t just repel bugs, it sends them packing. This was created in Portfolio I taught by White.

“Thoughtify” for Spotify Wins Best in Show and Two Gold Addys

“Thoughtify” won a Best in Show $750 scholarship and first Gold Addy in the Student Elements of Advertising Copywriting category. It won a second Gold Addy in the Online Interactive App Mobile category.

Memorizing exam material is a nightmare for most students. By tapping into music’s ability to cue active recall of information in the brain, studying can now be as easy as do-re-mi. Art director Tsunoda and copywriter Schildhaus created “Thoughtify,” a machine learning tool that turns students’ lecture notes into lyrics, for Spotify.

With the power of music and AI, this campaign helps students remember their study materials by transforming their notes into catchy tunes. Scan notes, pick a genre, a study playlist is conjured up by the AI gods. This was created in Portfolio III taught by White.

“Break the Sound Barrier” for Spotify Wins Mosaic and Silver Addy

“Break the Sound Barrier” won a Mosaic Addy Award because it promoted systemic change through equity and inclusion. It also won a Silver Addy in the Student Online Interactive App Mobile category.

Student art director Marlana Bianchi and copywriter Molly Egan’s artificial intelligence-powered idea, titled “Break the Sound Barrier,” takes inclusivity to a whole new level. Their idea takes an experience that has been exclusive to the hearing community and made it, for the first time ever, inclusive to people across the full spectrum of hearing. It makes music streaming inclusive to the deaf community by integrating deaf sign language performances directly into the Spotify platform. Deaf sign language performances are when members of the deaf community sign the lyrics of songs while dancing to the beats of music.

Their idea uses AI to scale deaf sign language performances into over 300 sign languages on the platform, making music streaming accessible to the deaf community. Musicians would also have the choice to opt into “Break the Sound Barrier” to generate themselves signing using deepfake technology for social good. This was created in Portfolio III taught by White.

“Ones Eagles Nation” for Duolingo Wins Gold Addy

“One Eagles Nation” won a Gold Addy in the Student Cross Platform Integrated Advertising Campaign category.

Who says Eagles fans need to be in Philly to cheer? Through their research, art director Jack Wojtowicz and copywriter Micaela Kraker found that Philadelphia Eagles fans are fiercely passionate, but with 34% living outside the U.S., their chants don’t always reach the Philly stadium. Their “One Eagles Nation” campaign uses Duolingo’s platform to connect international Eagles fans with fans in Philadelphia.  

To bring this concept to life, they thought of the idea to livestream for the first time ever, directly from the stadium tailgates to new Eagle bars around the world using Eagle Ambassadors. To become an Eagle Ambassador, the most active learners on the Duolingo app will be chosen.

Using their Duolingo international language skills, Eagle Ambassadors will initiate chants back and forth in different languages with captions below it, which will also be featured on the Jumbotron at the Lincoln Financial Stadium.

Posters with playful messaging like “Learn how to say ‘Screw the Niners’ in Portuguese” will spread the word. This campaign was created in Portfolio III taught by White.

“Spotify FM” for Spotify Wins Gold Addy

“Spotify FM” won a Gold Addy in the Student Cross Platform Integrated Advertising Campaign category.

Remember when radio was king? Art director Lara Molinari and copywriter Brooke Hirsch created a campaign, “Spotify FM,” that brings music back the magic of airwaves. Molinari and Hirsch’s campaign connects younger generations to the magic of music history, as local radio used to connect older generations to music.

This would launch on World Radio Day with Spotify going old-school with a throwback to AM and FM radio, ditching playlists and daylists for the good old-fashioned radio experience to play uninterrupted audio from archived local radio stations. This was created in Portfolio III taught by White.

“AI vs. AI” for The New York Times Wins Gold Addy

“AI vs. AI” won a Gold Addy in the Student Online Interactive App Mobile category.

What’s the best way to curb AI-driven misinformation? Copywriter Hirsch thought: use AI.

Hirsch came up with a digital AI idea, titled “AI vs. AI” for The New York Times, which uses AI to find deceptive AI, detecting and notifying people of false AI content in real-time.

Hirsch’s tool scans content for signs of manipulation, alerting users to misleading content they see in real-time. To get the word out, Hirsch created ads to get people to question the “news” they see. One example reads, “How do you know that AI didn’t write this article? Now you can find out. Spot AI using AI.”

Banner ads would be placed on YouTube, where deepfakes circulate. These ads would read, “There’s no way to tell what you’re watching is a deepfake. Until now. Spot AI using AI.”

Hirsch’s idea is rooted in one essential goal: preserving human truth. This was also created in Portfolio III taught by White.

From digital AI to sharp print, Newhouse students’ award-winning ideas and campaigns took the cake at the Rochester Addys, and now advances to the district level of the Addy competition. The district winners will move on to the final stage of the competition: the Addy AAF National Student Competition.

Newhouse Creative Advertising Addy Award Winners

Best in Show / Scholarship Addy Winners

Remi Tsunoda and Avery Schildhaus
• $1,250 Best in Show Scholarship: Elements of Advertising, Art Direction Category: 21Grams, “My Opia”
• $750 Best in Show Scholarship: Elements of Advertising, Copywriting Category: Spotify, “Thoughtify”

Daniel Arougheti
• $500 Best in Show Scholarship: Elements of Advertising, Art Direction Category: Off Bug Spray, “Buzz Off!”

Mosaic Award Addy Winner

Marlana Bianchi and Molly Egan
• Spotify, “Break the Sound Barrier”

Gold Addy Winners

Lara Molinari and Brooke Hirsch
• Cross Platform, Integrated Advertising Campaign Category: Spotify, “Spotify FM”

Jack Wojtowicz and Micaela Kraker
• Cross Platform, Integrated Advertising Campaign Category: Duolingo, “One Eagles Nation”

Daniel Arougheti
• Elements of Advertising, Art Direction Category: Off Bug Spray, “Buzz Off”

Remi Tsunoda and Avery Schildhaus
• Elements of Advertising, Art Direction Category: 21Grams, “My Opia”
• Online Interactive App Mobile Category: 21Grams, “My Opia”
• Online Interactive App Mobile Category: Spotify, “Thoughtify”
• Elements of Advertising, Copywriting Category: Spotify, “Thoughtify”

Brooke Hirsch
• Online Interactive App Mobile Category: The New York Times, “AI vs. AI”

Silver Addy Winners

Jack Wojtowicz and Micaela Kraker
• Cross Platform, Integrated Advertising Campaign Category: Spotify, “Spotify Duets”

Daniel Arougheti
• Print Ad Campaign, Magazine Category: Off Bug Spray: “Buzz Off”

Cole Meredith
• Print Ad Campaign, Magazine Category: Peloton, “This is My Happy Face”

Marlana Bianchi and Molly Egan
• Online Interactive App Mobile Category: Spotify, “Break the Sound Barrier”

Hanna LaBerge
• Elements of Advertising, Art Direction Category: WWF + NFL, “Don’t Be a Spectator”
• Print Ad Campaign, Magazine Category: WWF + NFL, “Don’t Be a Spectator”