UFCJC Advertising Students Win Gold in the 2025 HMC Strategic Excellence Awards Competition

Nine University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Advertising students received the gold award in the 2025 Hispanic Marketing Council Strategic Excellence Awards inaugural student category for the social impact campaign “Naloxone Awareness and Adoption.” Naloxone is a life-saving medication used to reverse an opioid overdose.

The new award category was created to recognize multicultural marketing and advertising excellence among undergraduate students in 2025. For the competition, the Ad Council challenged students with a creative brief to develop a culture-forward marketing campaign based on the nonprofit’s overdose crisis initiative.

The team included Christy Anasa, Dustin Garcia, Sara Gleim, Valentina Gomez, Lacie Luckett, Sara Myers, Kaicha Noel, Andrea Valdes-Sueiras and Astrid Weiner. UFCJC Advertising Lecturer Santiago Kember served as mentor.

“For students building a career in advertising and marketing, incorporating social impact into their work provides an unmatched opportunity to understand how great creative can drive real change,” said Michelle Hillman, chief campaign development officer at the Ad Council.

UFCJC received gold, followed by silver for the University of Miami and a bronze award for the University of Texas-Austin.

Category: College News, Student News
Tagged: Advertising Hispanic Marketing Council Strategic Excellence Awards Santiago Kember
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