Reston, VA-The Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation (GAERF) has announced the winners of the GAERF 2011 Student Design Competition. This third annual contest challenged secondary and post-secondary school students to design marketing materials to promote graphicCOMMcentral.org, a comprehensive website providing visitors with a direct connection to an extensive network of resources and information for and about today's graphic communications industry.

From among the 225 entries, six winners were chosen, three at the secondary level and three at the post-secondary level.

Winners at the secondary school level were:

• 1st Place: Kyle Daum, Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School, Fall River, MA
  (Instructor: Raymond Machado)
• 2nd Place: Tyler Hayes, Rockland BOCES, West Nyack, NY
  (Instructor: Patrick Mitrione)
• 3rd Place: Karissa Tollier, Applied Technology Education Campus, Camden, SC
  (Instructor: Walker Canada)

Winners at the post-secondary school level were:

• 1st Place: Kaela SooHoo, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
  (Instructor: Lorraine Donegan)
• 2nd Place: Sierra Norman, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
  (Instructor: Lorraine Donegan)
• 3rd Place: Hallie Helbert, Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
  (Instructor: Lorraine Donegan)

First place winners and their instructors will receive a two-day all-inclusive paid trip to attend GRAPH EXPO 2011 in Chicago, IL.  In addition, they will be presented with a $2,000 check during GRAPH EXPO 2011's Career Awareness Day, on Wednesday, September 14, 2011. The second place winners will each be awarded $1,500, and the third place winners will each receive $1,000.

"GAERF is proud to continue its commitment to supporting education initiatives by encouraging creativity and self-expression in students through the art of design and production," said GAERF President Ralph Nappi. "Most impressive is the significant number of entries received, a 64% increase over the number received for last year's contest. The GAERF 2011 Student Design Competition has served to recognize our best and brightest students, as well as the significant commitment of their instructors."

All student entries will be featured in a special display within GRAPH EXPO 2011's Education Main Street, and posted on both the GAERF website: www.gaerf.org and the graphicCOMMcentral website: www.graphiccommcentral.org.