2025 Design Awards Judges
For the UCDA 2025 Design Awards, we’ve assembled a panel of judges composed of designers, design educators, photographers, and illustrators. Your work will be peer-reviewed independently in each competition by others who understand the environments in which you create.
Design (Print) Competition Judges
Jessi Church, Brand Manager, University of Missouri (Mizzou)
Jessi Church is a graphic designer and creative strategist with over 15 years of experience. She currently serves as the brand manager for the University of Missouri (Mizzou) where she develops and maintains the Mizzou brand. Jessi is passionate about helping others apply the brand with confidence by creating trainings, resources and skill-building opportunities for campus. When she’s not contemplating the distillation of the Mizzou brand, Jessi can be found trail running, getting close to nature with her macro lens or enthusiastically pointing out the name of every plant she passes.
Rick Griffith, Designer // Partner, Matter
Rick Griffith has figured out how to be present in Brooklyn, New York, seen in Los Angeles, California, and simultaneously he has been a fixture in Denver's creative sector since arriving in 1996. He is a former Denver Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Public Art Policy Chair, and founder and partner in MATTER, the ambidextrous design consultancy with a print shop for the public good, design reading room/library, and a bookstore/venue for Denver's intersectional community of revolutionaries, designers, activists, and other thinking persons. For over 25 years MATTER has been challenging the traditional boundaries of retail and studio practice to become something intentionally unruly, non-binary, collaborative, and plural. He speaks globally on Design, Ethics, Typography, Printing Arts and his creative practice. His work is sometimes collected and can be found in the permanent collections of The Denver Art Museum, Tweed Museum, New York’s Poster House, and The Butler Library of Rare Books.
Michael Metz, Creative Director, Metz Design Company
In the spring of 1988, Michael's first taste as a creative professional was selling custom-illustrated name cards to grade school classmates. Local authorities snuffed out the short-lived venture, though not before a design love affair was born. Michael has been living his childhood dream as a graphic designer and creative director for over twenty years at small boutique design shops and larger integrated advertising agencies before launching his brand studio in 2021.
Marcelo Plioplis, Executive Creative Director, Colorado State University
A seasoned executive with 20+ years of experience, Marcelo has driven brand creative and art direction for Fortune 100 companies such as Pepsi, Disney, Honeywell, and Allstate Insurance while at Bailey Lauerman—one of the most awarded ad agencies in the midwest. Marcelo has also built a career in creative leadership for major academic institutions like Colorado State University and the University of Nebraska and he taught advertising, design and typography to hundreds of students as an adjunct professor for 13 years.
Tiffany Pruden, Director of Brand Creative, Virginia Tech
As the Virginia Tech Director of Brand Creative, Tiffany Pruden fosters creative alignment and continuity of the university brand by way of leading the visual strategy for brand education, fundraising, stewardship, marketing, and university and presidential priorities. Tiffany’s career experience has been in major retail, non-profit housing restoration, residential development, community outreach, and higher education.
Megan Rhee, Assistant Professor, University of Baltimore
Megan Rhee is an Assistant Professor and Director of the MFA in Integrated Design program at the University of Baltimore. With over two decades of experience in communication and design, she leads interdisciplinary, human-centered learning that empowers students to become thoughtful, innovative creators. Her teaching centers on collaboration, critical thinking, and alternative assessment methods—including ungrading and reflective practice—to deepen learning and support inclusive classroom environments. Outside academia, Megan brings her expertise in visual storytelling and brand strategy to mission-driven projects that advance meaningful, real-world impact.
Design (Digital) Competition Judges
Jim Dudley, Director of Strategy, Anstey Hodge
For more than 25 years, Jim has been a successful creative director, strategist, writer, and account director across a wide spectrum of clients and industries, including Chiquita, Verizon Wireless, Duke Health, Mizuno USA, Cornell University, Virginia Tech, Torc Robotics and many more. From retail brands to healthcare to technology companies to senior living, his focus with each client is always to find core truths about the brand and to share those truths with audiences to build lasting relationships. An avid musician and storyteller, Jim has also directed documentaries, including Triumph of Hope, an intimate piece sharing the stories of three Holocaust survivors living in western Virginia.
Sammy Jean, UI/UX Designer, Web Developer, Jacksonville University
Sammy Jean is a creative technologist with a passion for both design and development. As a Senior Application Administrator, UX/UI professor, and web developer, they bring a rare mix of technical expertise and design insight to every project they touch. With years of experience across the tech landscape, Sammy has worked with large companies, innovative startups, and impactful nonprofits—building everything from robust backend systems to beautifully crafted user interfaces. Whether teaching in the classroom or coding behind the scenes, He is driven by a love for intuitive design, clean code, and meaningful digital experiences.
Ashley Perez, Interactive Art Director, Firefli
Ashley is a multidisciplinary graphic designer from South Florida with over 15 years of experience in UI/UX, print, branding, and photography. She is currently an Art Director at Firefli in Roanoke, VA, where she collaborates closely with frontend and backend developers to deliver high-quality, detail-oriented digital solutions.
Video Competition Judges
Erik Dunham, Professor of Digital Design, Anne Arundel Community College
Erik Dunham started his design career in advertising before working at the Baltimore Museum of Art designing and installing exhibition graphics. He began designing websites in 1996, focusing first on visual and interaction design, then exploring and integrating user-experience design, information architecture, and e-commerce design. Erik joined National Public Radio's nascent NPR Online department in 1999 and helped design, build, and launch web properties for the public broadcasting community. He joined The Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2004 where he led the creation of websites and applications. Erik teaches graphic and web design at Anne Arundel Community College and continues to help clients as a freelance consultant and designer. He is on the team that helps make the Small Press Expo happen every year. His goal as a design educator is to help students build their confidence, curiosity, and craft. He collects books about the history of typography and printing and loves thoughtful design, cats, semiotics, race cars, and old books.
Tim Russon, Video Producer, University of Lynchburg
Tim Russon is a video professional with a keen interest in the incredible stories of everyday people. He grew his video production ability while working at Soapbox Agency in Rexburg Idaho, strengthened his animation and motion graphic skills contracting with Digital Gravy in Tooele Utah, and honed-in on the art of authentic storytelling at the University of Lynchburg in Virginia, where he currently works as the video producer for the university’s marketing and communications department. Tim continues to take classes in studio arts and graphic design, pushing himself to create and tell stories in new ways. He also has a love for landscape photography, born from his sense of wonder for the natural world, and his love for outdoor recreation.
Charles Wright, Assistant Professor, Sinclair College
Charles Wright is an assistant professor in the Design Department at Sinclair Community College, with over 15 years of experience in the design industry. He teaches video production and graphic design with an emphasis on audience-focused, story-driven design solutions. His professional practice focuses on creating clear, effective communication through branded and instructional content, both for clients and in the classroom. Passionate about design that connects, Charles guides students in developing thoughtful, impactful strategies that meet real-world communication challenges.
Photography Competition Judges
Janice Checchio, Associate Creative Director, Photography, Boston University
Janice Checchio had been a creative director, editorial designer, photo editor, photographer, or some combination of the aforementioned for 18 years. After earning a BFA in graphic design at Boston University, she honed her visual storytelling skills at The Boston Phoenix before returning to her alma mater where she is currently Associate Creative Director for Boston University’s Marketing & Communications. In 2021, she received a Fellowship in Photography from the Mass Cultural Council.
Liz Chrisman, Content Marketing Manager, International Mountain Bicycling Association
Liz Chrisman is a whirlwind of creative energy who crisscrosses the country to tell great stories. She’s currently the Content Marketing Manager at the International Mountain Bicycling Association, supporting trail communities with her images, words and films. Over the last two decades of professional experience, she’s been able to wear the hat of higher education photographer, national conference speaker, chair of a national design show, feature writer for national & regional publications, university instructor, digital strategy manager for various clients, and graphic designer.
McNair Evans, Photographer & Multimedia Producer, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts
McNair Evans is a nationally exhibiting artist and an active guest lecturer whose photographs appear in numerous publications and exhibition settings. Based in Richmond, VA, where he serves Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts as Photographer and Multimedia Producer, McNair is represented by galleries and agencies in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Asheville, NC. He is the recipient of numerous awards including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, the Innovation in Documentary Arts Award from Duke University, and the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship. His books and prints are held in public and private collections including the SFMOMA, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University, and the Collection of Sir Elton John.
Student Competition Judges
Chuck Armstrong, Associate Professor of Graphic Design, University of Southern Indiana
Chuck Armstrong is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Southern Indiana. In addition to a 27-year run of teaching Graphic Design, Chuck has worked as an Art Director, sign painter, muralist, web designer, and studio owner, with clients ranging from small mom-and-pop shops to start-ups to municipalities and to Fortune 500 companies. With a career spanning four decades, he is bravely facing his second great industry disruption. He survived the introduction of the Apple Macintosh and digital publishing in the 1980s, and is now trying to do the same with the disruptive emergence of generative AI.
Anne H. Berry, Professor + Director, School of Design, University of Chicago
Anne H. Berry is a writer, designer, and Director of the School of Design at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Her research includes topics related to race/representation, civic design, and design pedagogy. She has been featured in Letterform Archive, Black, Brown + Latinx Design Educators: Conversations on Design and Race by Kelly Walters, and Maurice Cherry’s award-winning podcast Revision Path. She is also co-creator of the award-winning project Ongoing Matter: Democracy, Design, and the Mueller Report and managing editor of The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression, and Reflection, an anthology centering a range of perspectives that spotlight teaching practices, research, stories, and conversations from a Black/African diasporic lens.
Christine Fraguela, Assistant Chair, Publishing/Surface Design, Illustration, ArtCenter College of Design
Christine Fraguela is a Puerto Rican Illustrator and designer living and working in Los Angeles, California. In her career she has worked extensively with Independent labels within the music industry. Clients include ATO Records and Suicide Squeeze. Retail clients for home and fashion include Merchant Modern and Echo77 Bali. Christine’s work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators of New York. She has participated in exhibitions at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Hey There Gallery, Joshua Tree and El Local. Christine currently serves ArtCenter College of Design as Assistant Chair in the Illustration Department for the areas of Surface Design and Publishing.
Sarah Edmands Martin, Associate Professor of Design, U.S. Fulbright Scholar, Nanovic Institute Faculty Fellow, University of Chicago
Sarah Edmands Martin is Associate Professor of Design at the University of Chicago where her design practice, media-making, and scholarship unfold at the intersections of speculative design, digital storytelling, and media aesthetics. She has received fellowships that include a 2024 Fulbright, a 2023 Design Writing Fellowship at Chicago's Writing Space, and a 2021–22 Research Fellowship at the Institute for Digital Arts + Humanities. She has also published essays in books and journals such as CounterText, Ethics in Design and Communication: New Critical Perspectives, Digital Transformation in Design: Processes and Practices, and AIGA’s Eye on Design. Her current book projects include Beautiful Bureaucracy: A Design Brief for Civic Life (MIT Press, 2026) and Otherworldly Games: An Atlas of Playable Realities. Her design work has been recognized and published by PRINT, Graphis, the Paris Design Awards, London International Creative, and the Creative Communication Awards. Her industry-facing work spans clients from Citibank to AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Johnathon Strube, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, East Tennessee State University
Johnathon Strube is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at East Tennessee State University. His current research focuses on developing designer agency and social design frameworks that explore advocacy, activism, documentation, storytelling, and visual narrative/rhetoric.