Contact: Sammy McDavid
Three senior Mississippi State art majors hold two of the top five Awards of Excellence in an annual regional collegiate design competition.
Michael A. Curtis of Slidell, La., Adam P. Howard of Florence, Ala., and Paul C. Porter of Como were among the top finishers in the recent PUSH Design Conference and Competition in Memphis, Tenn. In addition to art, Curtis is completing a second bachelor's degree in business information systems.
The event is sponsored by the Memphis Advertising Federation, Memphis College of Art and University of Memphis. This year's competition involved the creation of a corporate identity and collateral materials for a hypothetical business.
Curtis' entry was a solo effort, while Howard and Porter worked as a team. Their achievements marked the sixth consecutive year in which MSU art majors have received major graphic design honors in the competition.
Of more than 100 total entries submitted in this latest challenge from students in Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee, only 25 were accepted for final judging. Eight of those 25 were MSU student projects.
Also from the Starkville school in final judging were seniors Kellie D. Burnham of Kosciusko; David L. Doleac and Chad D. Mason, both of Brandon; Samuel J. Flegal of Madison, Tenn.; Sean M. Hufnagel of Little Rock, Ark.; Courtney M. Mihalik of Pulaski, Tenn.; and Catherine H. Owen of Mobile, Ala. Flegal and Hufnagel worked as a team; the others, as individual entrants.
To date, MSU has received more PUSH honors than any other participating university or college in the four-state region.
Founded in 1968, the MSU art department offers bachelor's degrees in graphic design and fine art, and a master's in fine art in electronic visualization/animation and multimedia. A part of the College of Arts and Sciences, it is home to the state's largest university studio art program.