Portland, Ore. – Pacific Printing Industries Association (PPI) awarded $1700 in student scholarship prizes this year in their ExploreVizComm student poster competition. This annual competition provides a unique opportunity for high school and college students to showcase their print design skills. With more than one hundred entries and many outstanding creative designs, the selection process this year was highly competitive.

The first-place winner in the college entry category was Rebekah Davis, a graduating senior at North Idaho College. For Davis, The ExploreVizComm contest encouraged her to push boundaries to develop a compelling design. “My design represents paper as a lush, garden-forest Utopia…I created it to feel beautiful and enticing, where the viewer could get lost exploring layers of paper, digital techniques and hand-drawn type” said Davis.

The first-place winner for the high school entry category was Ben Falealili, a graduating senior at Robert Service High School in Anchorage, Alaska. Ben wanted his design to convey the message that “Students are able to design and carve their own futures. Their futures depend on how they carry themselves throughout their lives”.

Jules Van Sant, PPI Exective Director expressed her joy at seeing the amount of entries and creativity. “Our goal is to ‘printspire’ the next generation of workforce, buyers, and consumers. Exposing students to the possibilities and relevance of print in their own lives, they begin to realize that print is everywhere and not going anywhere. This year’s themes and breadth of entries brought that squarely home!”

ExploreVizComm, a program funded by the non-profit Educational Trust of PPI runs the student poster contest. In 2018, students participated from the states of Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Next year, the ExploreVizComm student poster contest will run January 21st-April 8th. All 2018 poster contest entries can be viewed on the website explorevizcomm.org, and top winners will be included in a calendar that will be available for purchase in the summer of 2018 on explorevizcomm.org. 

Ben Falealili's first-place poster for the high school entry category (left) and Rebekah Davis' first-place poster in the college entry category.