YOUNG CREATIVES FROM IIE-VEGA DOMINATE 2022 AWARDS SEASON

South Africa has some of the most talented young creatives, who annually compete for a host of awards and accolades in their respective fields of expertise. This year, facing stiff competition, students from Vega, a brand of The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE), positively dominated the field, consistently raking in prestigious awards and recognition for their visionary work.

“We are honoured and delighted that this year’s students, with the dedication and support of our academic navigators, once more continued IIE-Vega’s position at the top of the leader board in the industry. We commend and congratulate them for their hard work and commitment, and look forward to seeing what mountains they will be moving as they join industry, where their future employers will be fortunate to have creatives with their level of qualification and experience,” says Christiaan Graaff: IIE-Vega Programme and Awards Navigator.

IIE-Vega shone brightly again at the highly acclaimed global Creative Conscience Awards, with their students bringing about positive change through creative thinking and innovation, bagging themselves 6 awards – 1 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze - and 2 commendations in the process. Students Megan Hills, Christopher Meiring and Aumi Hooseria (with academic navigators Carmen Gunkel and Sonja van den Berg) from IIE-Vega’s Pretoria Campus shot to gold for their Mental Health campaign for Stabilo. Representing the same campus, Manushri Naidoo bagged a silver award for her campaign for Hario in the Environment & Sustainability category.

The Loeries saw IIE-Vega students walk away with 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze and 1 Craft Certificate. Veganite Megan Hills took the top spot for her excellent packaging design of Pikkld, with the support of her academic navigator Carmen Gunkel. 

Cape Town students Kellan Jackson, Finn du Plessis and Michelle du Plessis (Academic navigators Anka Joubert, Mandy Speechly, Nico Jardim) bagged Silver for their outstanding Grasshoppers Integrated Campaign, Cringe Couture. Another silver went to Megan Hills for her outstanding product design – Pupil Optics in the General Design category. Megan was supported by her navigator Carmen Gunkel.

Every year The Loeries, in partnership with Woolworths, runs the Loeries x Woolworths Student Portfolio Bootcamp, which saw IIE-Vega land second place this year. The Bootcamp features sessions where industry leaders get the chance to mentor creative students by sharing their knowledge and experience of the industry with them. The students then get the opportunity to present their portfolios to their mentors who offer invaluable advice and critique. Kayleigh Hunter, a 3^rd-year Digital Design Veganite from JHB laid claim to a very worthy second place!

The IAB Bookmark Awards celebrated its 14th year of rewarding excellence in digital and recognising the powerful impact interactive has on the overall marketing mix in 2022, and IIE-Vega Bordeaux marked this milestone with them by bagging the prestigious Black Pixel Award for Best Digital Student for the 6th year in a row. Congrats to Veganites Bronwyn Jenkinson, Joshua Matseke, Mariam Mohamed, Tanna Teixeira and Gabriella Capazorio, and their academic navigators Lindelihle Bhebhe, Farrell West and Darren Meltz who guided them in producing award-winning work.

At the WPO WorldStar Student Awards, three Veganites were awarded WorldStar Student Certificates of Recognition. To qualify for this prestigious recognition, students’ work needs to score above the qualifying standard. The WorldStar Awards is an international competition designed to recognise student talent that excels in innovative thinking and design in the field of packaging. This year they received around 300 entries from students across the globe, which makes this a remarkable achievement for students Oyama Njeza, Khaleel Khan and Jenna Alexander.

The Pendorings is another staple of the awards industry and this year, Veganites continued their run of success by scooping 5 Silver Awards from the 14 finalist entries. Pendoring awards is unique in the sense that it promotes and embraces creative ideas, solutions and content that celebrates the richness of our country’s indigenous languages.  The competition was fierce, but Veganites prevailed. In the Pendorings annual rankings, IIE-Vega once again made it to the top 3 creative tertiary institutions by claiming second place.

IIE-Vega also had 4 finalists competing in the graphic design category at the Student Gold Pack Awards. These awards celebrate the African Packaging Industry and honours excellence across a wide range of packaging solutions. Students are encouraged to explore, ideate and create innovative, eye-catching and smart solutions for the exciting world of packaging.  It was a great achievement to have 4 Veganites selected as finalists, and an accolade of the highest order for Veganite Erin Coetzee, a second-year student from Cape Town, who was awarded best project in the brief 2 category as well coming in second overall in the graphic design category and walking away with the silver.

“Looking back at their success in 2022, we want to commend all our students for their hard work, commitment, vision and tenacity on their road to becoming valuable members of their respective industries. And we want to particularly thank our amazing winners, as well as their navigators for consistently helping our students excel year after year,” says Graaff.