judges-2022
For the UCDA 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.
This year’s judges include:
PHOTOGRAPHY JUDGES
MEGAN BEAN
Megan Bean has been a public affairs photographer at Mississippi State University since 2004. Her MSU photography features in the university website, social media, printed publications, billboards, and commercials and reaches further afield through regional and national news publications. Megan is an active member of the University Photography Association of America (UPAA).
Megan loves telling a story through images, whether via environmental portraits of the MSU community, conceptual photographic illustration, or finding new angles for capturing the daily life and landscape of campus. Her MSU photographs and affiliated publications have won numerous awards, including individual CPRAM and CASE III Grand Awards.
Before coming to MSU, Megan was an attorney at a large Los Angeles law firm, practicing civil litigation with a focus on motion picture studio clients. She graduated from Duke University in 2000 with a law degree and earned a bachelor's in law and society from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1993.
KEN BENNETT
Ken Bennett has been the staff photographer at Wake Forest University since 1997, after a ten-year career in the news business. Ken is an active member of the University Photographers Association of America, having served two terms on the board as vice president, and being awarded the title Master of the Profession in 2013. In addition to numerous print and publications awards in UPAA, Ken was the 2014 CASE Photographer of the Year.
JACOB BROOKS
Jacob's work as a photographer and director of photography has taken him around the world to more than fifty countries for a variety of lifestyle, editorial, and documentary projects. He’s shot original content for Sony Records, CMTV, Ethnographic Media, Allure, in addition to several boutique brands, and has been published in RangeFinder Magazine, Condé Nast, Martha Stewart, and elsewhere. Throughout his career, he's maintained a love for his craft by leaning deeply into personal projects both home and abroad with a commitment to shooting his still images on medium format and 35mm Kodak film.
ILLUSTRATION JUDGES
TIFFANY BLACK
Tiffany Black is a mural artist currently based in Indianapolis, IN. She is a resident artist with Big Car Collaborative, a nonprofit focused on public programming, socially-engaged art, and creative placemaking and place keeping. Tiffany teaches online classes at Arkansas Tech University, including Introduction to Drawing and Color Design. She is a founding member of TLC Art Collective, a group of creatives addressing environmental and social justice. She has lived in New York City, where she worked as a scenic artist in the television and film industries, and Baltimore, where she earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Community Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
MIKI HARDER
According to her folks, Miki Harder had a crayon in her hand since she was knee-high to a bug. Looking back, that seemed like the most natural way to express how she saw and loved the world, and maybe how she felt the natural world loved her back. Miki sees it as fun, funny, and casually benevolent. With a degree in Biology, she has tried her hardest to honor the physical integrity of everything she draws, but she can’t help but focus on its less clinical attributes.
In Miki’s studio in Southwest Colorado, she gets to sculpt, weld metal, and make tile mosaics. Miki has had the honor to illustrate children’s books, canvases, corporate logos, a bathroom in a bookstore, and most recently along with her dad published a book about funky dragon behaviors. She feels lucky to get to do what she does and wake up every morning excited to grab that crayon again.
NEAL HARRINGTON
STUDENT JUDGES
TASHEKA ARCENEAUX SUTTON
Tasheka Arceneaux Sutton is an educator, graphic designer, image-maker, and writer. She is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at University of Texas-Austin and faculty in the low-residency MFA program in Graphic Design at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Tasheka is the principal and founder of Blacvoice Design, a studio that specializes in branding, electronic media, identity, illustration, and publication design, for educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and small businesses.Tasheka’s research focuses on discovering Black people omitted from the graphic design history canon. She’s also interested in the visual representation of Black people in the media and popular culture, primarily through the lens of stereotypes. She is the co-curriculum designer for Black Design in America: African Americans and the African Diaspora in Graphic Design from the 19th through the 21st Century, a series of pre-recorded BIPOC-centered history courses. Her essay “A Black Renaissance Woman: Louise E. Jefferson” is a part of a collection of essays in the book Baseline Shift: Untold Stories of Women in Graphic Design History. Her review of the book Race by Design: How Visual Culture Shapes America was published in the journal Design in Culture. Tasheka’s essay “The Type Behind the Name” is included in the book Documenting the Nameplate which will be released later this year. She is also co-author of the book Black Design in America, which is scheduled to be released in 2023.
Tasheka holds an MFA in graphic design from the California Institute of the Arts and a BA in English from Loyola University New Orleans.
TAMMY HARRINGTON
Tammy Harrington is a printmaker and paper cut artist that imbues the cross-cultural influences of Chinese and American culture into figurative compositions to create an ephemeral space, in a place between reality and the mystical. She was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and currently resides in Russellville, Arkansas. She received a BFA in Printmaking from the University of South Dakota and a MFA in Printmaking from Wichita State University. Harrington is currently a Professor of Art at the University of the Ozarks where she received the Bagwell Outstanding Faculty Award in 2013 and 2018. She has exhibited artwork throughout the region and nationally. She serves as the President of the Arkansas Society of Printmakers and was awarded the 2017 Beaux Arts Award from the River Valley Arts Center.
JOSHUA MEIER
Joshua Meier is the current chair of the visual arts department at St. Andrew’s School in Delaware where he teaches photography and printmaking and directs the Warner Gallery. Joshua’s personal work utilizes traditional film-based medium, screen printing, etchings, as well as assemblage. Most recently, Joshua has had the pleasure of working with authors Colson Whitehead and Nathan Englander, as well as musician Maggie Rogers.
PRINT JUDGES
ANNE H. BERRY
STEVE HARTMAN
Steve Hartman’s 30 years of professional creative experience include a variety of roles: creative director, entrepreneur, published author, and amateur chef. Steve’s dynamic portfolio of design work has been recognized by HOW Magazine, Communication Arts, Print Magazine, Graphic Design USA, and GRAPHIS among other publications. His work has won numerous awards at design competitions, including AIGA St. Louis, AIGA 365, the Communications Arts Design Annual, HOW Magazine International competition, and Print Magazine regional annuals. Steve has taught design and communications at Washington University in St. Louis, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Maryville University, and Webster University. Design clients have run the gamut from Fortune 50 companies to non-profits to higher-ed institutions such as Washington University, Webster University, Eastern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Lewis & Clark Community College, and the University of Illinois. Steve is a former national board member of AIGA, The Professional Association for Design, and past president of AIGA St. Louis.
MIKE ROBINSON
Since 1996, Mike Robinson has been doing award-winning creative for clients around the globe. A graduate of Samford University, he combines a unique understanding of the higher ed market space with a desire to get to a client's essence in order to create communication solutions that are authentic and effective.
Clients that have benefited from Mike's ability to understand and bring to the surface their distinctive include Carson-Newman University, Messiah University, Carroll College, Charleston-Southern University, Campbellsville University, UMHB, and literally hundreds more. Besides client work, he makes sure the 5° Branding team stays synced up with its own mission and values.
DIGITAL JUDGES
TYLER BACK
Tyler Back is one of those wild-eyed, mile-a-minute, soul-on-his-sleeve individuals you never forget meeting. And one of the rare company heads who whole-heartedly personifies his company’s spirit and mission. Determined to shake up everyone in the digital and marketing landscape, Tyler is constantly invigorating his strategic brain to shake things up for the good of clients and for goodness’ sake. Tyler is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Mitosis, an international award-winning marketing creative agency, as well as co-founder and acting CEO of Meiosis, a data-agnostic SaaS marketing automation company determined to transform marketing technology and analytics.
MARQ MERVIN
Marq Mervin is an Emmy-award-winning multidisciplinary artist, educator, activist, TEDx speaker, and lover of cartoons and video games. Marq’s career led him to design and animate for local startups, broadcast news, and non-profit organizations. Currently, Marq teaches digital media at Florida State College at Jacksonville. He’s also an advocate for accessible art and design education for marginalized and underrepresented youth. Marq is also the author of “One Day, I Hope That…”, a collection of prose and poetry. When he’s not traveling for gaming tournaments or speaking engagements, he’s catching up on his favorite shows or performing at open mic nights.
LYNN PULSIFER
A natural storyteller, Lynn crafts branded experiences that balance form and emotion. She is passionate about bringing brand stories to life that resonate with consumers.
After over two decades of running the creative departments of large agencies like Digitas, Moxie, and W20, Lynn is a pro at understanding clients challenges and aligning campaigns to fit their needs. She has since started her own boutique agency to help an underserved market that often can’t afford the services of large national agencies.
As Executive Creative Director at Launch, Lynn delivers award-winning creative that inspires and delights customers worldwide. She’s a creative powerhouse who can single-handedly guide strategy, conceptualize the winning idea, and see it through to flawless execution.
VIDEO JUDGES
JORGE JOVEL
Originally from The Bronx, New York Jorge Jovel was a professional BMX competitor and participated in the X-Games and Dew Tour. His passion for the arts and combination of the action sports world has given him an eye for a high-action style of filming. With an associate's degree in graphic design, Jovel founded Black Sheep Media House, LLC in 2006 with the goal to produce video content that would be eye-catching.
He's a camera and drone nerd and can be found talking shop to anyone who will listen. You can also find him in the woods riding MTB, building trails, riding downhill as fast as gravity will allow him, and flipping and twirling his BMX bike when possible.
Jorge has worked with Cannondale, Hyper bikes, Terevail, Gform, adidas, Stans Notubes, Mountain Dew, Woodward Camp, and Nitro Circus to produce eye-catching content, he is currently working for Sheetz Brand Design team.
DJ JUDD
DJ Judd is a well-rounded Creative from Bentonville, Arkansas. He specializes in motion design, video production, and virtual reality. With a B.S. degree in Digital Media from Liberty University, DJ now works as a Creative Producer at Walmart in Global Learning. He leads in the creation and curation of messaging from different segments of the business to over 1 million associates in the field.
Before Walmart, DJ worked his way up from college sports broadcasting to Graphic Designer at a news station, and Senior Editor at a production house serving several Fortune 500 companies. He enjoys building up those around him by sharing his experience and expertise. Working in a learning organization has enabled him to make a positive impact on the business and his community.
MIKE KURTZ
Mike Kurtz is the executive director of media productions for the University of Dayton Marketing and Communications. He has led the university’s video marketing efforts for over 30 years. Mike has served as president of local chapters of the Media Communications Association and the American Advertising Federation. His work has been honored in numerous regional, national, and international competitions. In 2020, Mike was awarded the AAF-Dayton Silver Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of advertising.