– “Girls Wrestling Documentary,” which follows the inspiring journey of the barrier breaking athletes of the Western Wayne Girls Wrestling Team, tells the story of young athletes reshaping the landscape of high school wrestling. On Friday, February 28, the American Advertising Federation of Northeastern Pennsylvania (AAF NEPA) hosted the 2024 American Advertising Awards, where they presented the 2024 Silver Medal Award, the Game Changer Award, winners of Cropped and the Rising Star Award. This year’s event was held at the Mohegan Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The American Advertising Awards are widely acknowledged to be the largest and most representative competition of its kind, with more than 25,000 entries received as part of the three-tier competition. Campaigns need to advance through both local and regional levels in order to be eligible for the national award. In addition, the awards are often viewed as a lens offering insights into work that may also perform well at other upcoming international creative competitions. Local Gold winners will automatically advance to the regional level and silver winners have the option to send their work on. In all, 8 Professional ADDYs and 13 Student ADDYs were awarded at the Northeastern PA American Advertising Awards, along with 8 Special Judges Choice Awards. Winners were announced during the award show on February 28th, which was attended by 80+ creative professionals, educators and students from across the advertising, marketing, media and tech communities.

Said Dan Kimbrough, President of AAF NEPA, “It’s a heavy lift pulling off the show each year, but we have an amazing board and being able to come together and celebrate our creative community makes it worth it.”

 Other highlights from this year’s American Advertising Awards include:

● WVIA’s Webseries “NEPA @ Work”, which took a gold medal, along with “Girls Wrestling Documentary”.

● Halibut Blue won two Silver Awards for their work with local non-profits Big Brothers Big Sisters of NEPA, and The United Way of the Wyoming Valley.

● Pennsylvania College of Technology’s Student Hunter Rossmann took home 5 trophies.

● Stephanie Klemick of Marywood University took home the student Best of Show with an innovative package design called “Fruit Cups”.

Awards were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges representing 4 different markets and agencies not local to NEPA.

Outside of our AAA Competition awards, Danielle Antonello-Smolley of Triggerfinger Photography, was awarded the Silver Medal Award, which recognizes an individual who has made outstanding contributions to advertising and has been active in furthering the industry’s standards, creative excellence and responsibility in areas of social concern.

Kevin Jones, owner of VizVibe, took home the Game Changer Award, which recognizes local visionaries who are pioneering new and exciting ideas within the advertising industry.

And Stephanie Klemick of Marywood University won The Rising Star Award, which celebrates emerging talents in the advertising industry who exhibit outstanding potential and a commitment to excellence in both their professional endeavors and community engagement.

All professional and student entries and the winners can be viewed online at adflix.aafnepa.org.