MILLIGAN, Tenn. (March 30, 2026) — A group of 10 Milligan University students and recent alumni earned top honors at this year’s American Advertising Federation – Northeast Tennessee (AAF NETN) awards. Milligan students earned four awards, including two Gold ADDY awards, a Judge’s Choice Award and Best of Show.
Senior humanities major and graphic design minor Eleanor Stoneham, of Charlotte, North Carolina, earned the competition’s highest honor, Best of Show, for her self-promotional leave-behind packaging project. The product is a three-dimensional, folded pear, and the fruit-shaped box is designed to catch the attention of future employers during a job search. When opened, the box contains samples of the designer’s illustrations and designs.
“I am so proud of our students and their success in this year’s competition,” said Art Brown, associate professor of graphic design at Milligan. “So many university students are creating amazing, professional-level work in their respective programs, so it’s an honor when our students’ works stand out among such strong competition.”
Stoneham’s design also won a Gold ADDY in the Sales & Marketing > Sales Promotion > Packaging category.
To earn the competition’s most esteemed award, Best of Show, her design was reviewed by the competition’s judges alongside the Gold ADDY-winning works from each category in the competition. The piece with the highest score from the three judges won.
A group of six students and four recent alumni were awarded a Gold ADDY and a Judge’s Choice Award for their collective work on the 2025 Countdown Campaign, promoting the Milligan student art show “Two Cats + A Herd of Buffalo.” The group won gold in the Cross Platform > Integrated Advertising Campaign > Consumer Campaign category. A Judge’s Choice Award is awarded by each of the three judges to their favorite work in the competition across all categories.
The group included project leader Caitlin Quinn, a senior from Lansdale, Pennsylvania; seniors Stoneham; Spencer Hall, of Thomasville, North Carolina; Grace Sanderson, of St. Charles, Missouri; Marnie Tallon, of Houston, Texas; and junior Ashton Whearley, of Hamilton, Georgia. The award also honored recent Milligan alumni including the lead designer André Bazzana Semensato (’25), Kamdyn Lee (’24), Sam Kyker (’25) and Lily Marr (’25).
“It’s rewarding to see our students’ creative work recognized by the judges, especially for projects where students gained leadership experience and collaborated as a team,” said Brown. “Their successes also reflect the strength of our graphic design and digital media programs at Milligan.”
The American Advertising Awards honor the best and most creative advertising work from students and professionals in advertising. As one of the industry’s largest creative competitions, nearly 35,000 professionals and students enter the competition each year.
Milligan offers an array of academic programs in the performing, visual and communicative arts. For more information, visit milligan.edu/PVC.