Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the winners of the eighth annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards, recognized as one of the world's premier student design and film competitions. The awards honor the most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers and computer artists from renowned educational institutions around the globe. This year marked another record in submissions for the prestigious awards, with more than 2,700 students from 33 countries competing in the program.
"It's inspiring to see the breadth and quality of submissions from students from around the globe. These students are our future creative leaders," said Ann Lewnes, senior vice president of corporate marketing at Adobe. "The Adobe Design Achievement Awards gives design students the chance to create engaging projects that can be shared with peers as well as the design community."

"Participating in the Adobe Design Achievement Awards was a career highlight and provided instant, international visibility for my work," says Stephen Neary, a 2006 Animation finalist who is currently working at Blue Sky Studios on the upcoming release of Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. "The awards bring together students and design leaders from around globe to see how technology is transforming the creation and delivery of rich content."

In a ceremony last night at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, students were recognized for their achievements in thirteen categories:

-- In the Animation category, the winner was Rafael Sommerhalder of the Royal College of Art in London, and the finalists were Chia-Chien Mai and Tatachapon Lertwirojkul, both of the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

-- In the Browser-based Design category, the winner was JR Fabito of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and the finalists were Diana Antunes of University of Coimbra in Portugal, and Hyebin Park and Jhoo-Young.Cha of Seoul National University in Korea.

-- In the Designer/Developer Collaboration category, the winner was Jonnie Hallman of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, and the finalists were Won Young So of Kookmin University in Korea, and a team led by Catarina Pereira of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

-- In the Illustration category, the winner was Dongjoo Seo of Kookmin University, and the finalists were Jacky Tsai of Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London, and Eric Collins of the School of Visual Arts.

-- In the Photography category, the winner was Matt Sartain of the Academy of Art University, and the finalists were John Sloan of Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., and Ian Aleksander Adams of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga.

-- In the Installation Design category, the winner was Jiyeon Song of the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and the finalists were Freddie Yauner of the Royal College of Art, and a team led by Dofl Y.H. Yun of the London College of Communication.

-- In the Live Action category, the winners were Mathias Kohl and Christoph Schulte of University of Applied Sciences Mainz in Germany.

-- In the Mobile Design category, the winner was a team led by Valentina Venza of the University IUAV of Venice in Italy, and the finalists were Chia-Ying Lin of Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, and Marc Osswald of University of Applied Sciences and Design in Schwabian Gmund in Germany.

-- In the Motion Graphics category, the winner was the team of Ryan Uhrich and Marcos Ceravalo of the Vancouver Film School in Canada, and the finalists were Tal Gliks of BAU, Escola Superior de Disseny in Spain, and a team led by Cole Nielsen of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

-- In the Non-Browser-based Design category, the winner was Jae Chul Bae of The Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, and the finalist was Leilah Rampa of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

-- In the Packaging category, the winner was a team led by Tseng-Chih Huang of Mingchi University of Technology in Taiwan, and the finalists were Eulie Lee of the Pratt Institute in New York City, and Strahan McMullen of the Art Center College of Design.

-- In the Print Design Multi-Page category, the winner was Stefan Brautigam of University of Applied Sciences Mainz, and the finalists were Kyong Eun Kim of Kookmin University, and Gretchen Nash of the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, Calif.

-- In the Print Design Single Page category, the winner was John Passafiume of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., and the finalists were Ken Meier and David Yun of Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and Paul Grabowski of University of Applied Sciences Wurzburg-Schweinfurt in Germany.

The winning entries can be viewed at http://www.adaaentry.com/adaalive.html. Winners were selected by a panel of industry judges based on their originality and effectiveness in communicating project objectives. The judges are Emily Chang from Ideacodes, Joshua Davis from Joshua Davis Studios, David Gensler from Keystone Design Union, Eric John from Forum Nokia, Adrian Johnson from Adrian Johnson Ltd., Maya Kopytman from C&G Partners, Michael Lebowitz from Big Spaceship, Rebeca Mendez from Rebeca Mendez Design, Tina Roth Eisenberg from Swissmiss Studio, Stan Szymanski from Sony Pictures Imageworks, Armin Vit from UnderConsideration and independent filmmaker Joan Raspo.

Finalists received a trip to New York City to participate in studio tours and the awards event. Category winners received a selection of Adobe products and a US$3,000 cash prize. Studio tours this year were offered by the following New York City companies: AKQA, The Barbarian Group, C&G Partners, Eyebeam, frog design Inc, karlssonwilker inc, Mucca Design, Open, Pentagram, SpotCo, Trollback+Company and WDDG. As part of the program, students also are offered internships and opportunities to showcase their work throughout the year.

Each year, organizations sponsor the awards program by donating their time and services. This year's category sponsors included iStockphoto, Nokia, Xerox, and X-Rite.