For students in creative industries, talent alone isn’t enough to secure a job. Standing out in a competitive job market requires proof of skill, innovation and industry recognition - and that’s where and why creative award competitions play a vital role.
Participating in local and international creative competitions help students sharpen their craft while showcasing their work to top industry professionals - the very people who could be their future employers. With South Africa’s unemployment rate at 31.9%, according to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Q4 2024, opportunities that provide direct industry exposure and career advantages are more valuable than ever.
Said Dr Ria van Zyl (Dean IIE-Vega, an educational brand of the Independent Institute of Education (IIE)): “Many companies in the design industry regard awards as an indicator of students’ abilities. Winning an award, or even making it as a finalist, sends a strong message to potential employers, increasing students’ perceived employability and setting them apart in a highly competitive field.”
In 2024, IIE-Vega students made their mark both locally and globally, earning accolades in some of the world’s most prestigious creative competitions.
Some of the key awards IIE-Vega entered and excelled in include:
International:
- D&AD: one Wooden Pencil Award and the winner in the outstanding portfolio category in the D&AD New Blood
- Creative Conscience: Eight awards (two Silver, two Bronze, two Highly Commended, two Commended and Shortlisted)
- UX Design Awards: two finalists
- WorldStar Global Packaging Awards: four finalists
Local:
- Pendoring Awards: IIE-Vega was ranked the #1 Creative School and received the following: one Gold, three Silver, two Gold Craft Certificates and four Craft Certificates
- The Loeries Awards: Nine Loeries (Eight bronze and one silver)
- IAB Bookmark Awards: the Black Pixel Award for Best Digital Student
- Wine Magazine’s Design A Label Competition: Grand Prix Award and Gold, Silver and Bronze Accolades
- The New Generation Overall Student Group of the Year Award: three finalists
“Entering awards provides IIE-Vega with opportunities to benchmark our students’ skills and abilities against those of competitors, identifying our areas of excellence and opportunities for further development. We are particularly proud of our students’ international achievements, where they compete with top design schools globally such as Miami Ad School, Falmouth University and London College of Art,” said van Zyl.
For IIE-Vega Durban Alumna Chantel Adendorff (Digital Art Director at Joe Public Durban), winning a D&AD Wooden Pencil in 2024 was a career changing moment.
During her third year at IIE-Vega, Adendorff and her team (Nicole Smith, Paige Harwood and Kiaryn Maistry) won a D&AD Wooden Pencil for their project Express Your Peri-Peri, a campaign for Nando’s UK aimed at connecting with Gen Z consumers.
Adendorff’s portfolio also won the Best Portfolio Award in the Graphic Design category. She travelled to the UK to accept the Wooden Pencil award on behalf of her team and IIE-Vega.
“The D&AD Awards are like the holy grail of design awards. Having that recognition on your CV immediately catches the attention of future employers. I later learned that my current employer, Joe Public, specifically requested to interview with the D&AD winners when IIE-Vega Durban held Industry Night,” explained Adendorff.
Industry Night, an annual student showcase event attended by industry leaders, provides top students with direct access to leading creative agencies, often leading to job placements and networking opportunities.
In addition to her D&AD success, Adendorff also won a Bronze Loerie for her packaging project Nibble, Scratch, Repeat - a Montego Classic cat food box designed to transform into a scratch post toy.
“Winning these awards built my confidence and pushed me to enter even more competitions. The experience of having my work judged by industry leaders gave me the motivation to keep raising the bar,” she said.
Christiaan Graaff (Head of Communication Design IIE-Vega) said being selected for award entries by lecturers and being a finalist or winner can significantly boost students’ confidence in their work.
“This often leads to greater motivation, which inspires students to push their creative boundaries and produce more exceptional work. These competitions also allow us to benchmark our curriculum, ensuring it remains competitive and of the highest standard. The validation gained through industry recognition further affirms the quality of education the school provides,” said Graaff.
While there are numerous competitions in the design and advertising industries, IIE-Vega carefully selects the awards it enters based on:
- Alignment with its brand values - focusing on social impact, environmental responsibility and relevance to local contexts.
- Relevance to the curriculum - ensuring competition briefs provide meaningful learning opportunities for students.
“Competitions that meet these criteria are incorporated into our second and third year curricula. Students work on these briefs as part of the brand’s ‘learning by doing’ approach, often presenting their progress to panels of industry professionals or award winning Alumni,” said Lizette Carstens (Deputy Dean: Design IIE-Vega).
This real world exposure ensures IIE-Vega graduates enter the job market industry ready, with experience, confidence, and recognition by some of the world’s leading creative institutions.
Flying the IIE-Vega flag high. In 2024, IIE-Vega Durban third year students (from left) Chantal Adendorff, Paige Harwood, Kiaryn Maistry and Nicole Smith won the prestigious D&AD Wooden Pencil for their project Express Your Peri-Peri, a campaign for Nando’s UK aimed at connecting with Gen Z consumers.
For their award winning project Express Your Peri-Peri, Veganites Chantal Adendorff, Nicole Smith, Paige Harwood and Kiaryn Maistry created a live installation phone booth where Gen Z’s could speak to their mental health. Gen Z’s could write little notes on what they were struggling with or if they wanted to just share something positive and stick it on the walls. Reading the positivity or seeing what someone else was struggling with, connected Gen Z’s, making them feel like they were not the
For their award winning project Express Your Peri-Peri, Veganites Chantal Adendorff, Nicole Smith, Paige Harwood and Kiaryn Maistry changed the Nando’s packaging into a game and created a product that only Gen Z’s could buy. “They couldn’t play the game alone, again bridging that gap between loneliness and isolation that, our research found, many Gen Z’s struggled with,” said IIE-Vega Alumna