Riverside, Calif. (March 23, 2016) – Students, faculty and staff at California Baptist University combined to win 10 gold awards from the American Advertising Federation-Inland Empire (AAF-Inland Empire) awards gala on March 18. A CBU faculty member also won Best of Show in the professional category. In total CBU won 29 awards, 23 were student awards.  

CBU students Brittany Hatch, Colton von Pertz, Jacob Gonzalez and Jessica Schoellerman all won gold awards for various design projects.                                                    

Michael Berger, program director for graphic design and photography at CBU, said the award process helps CBU students on several levels. Students get to make connections with other schools and design communities at the award ceremonies. Additionally, the awards act as a barometer for students' quality of work. Furthermore, the prospect of an award gives the students something fun to work toward during the year.

Berger won three gold awards—one for his work on a digital media brochure that also won Best of Show— another for a French Paper event on campus and the third was for a photography brochure for the College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design, where he worked collaboratively with CBU graphic design professors Trever Hoehne and Dirk Dallas.                                               

CBU's Marketing and Communication Division also won three gold awards: one for the "Put Faith in the Journey" campaign, another for the "Brand Yourself" campaign and the third for a direct mailer it created for the Lancer Athletics Association.

Local Gold and Best of Show winners will advance to the regional competition with a chance to move up and compete at the national level. 

To see photos and a complete list of winners in all categories, visit http://aaf-inlandempire.com.