A collaboration between the Wick Poetry Center and KSU’s Glyphix design studio earned top awards at the 2011 ADDY® Awards hosted by the Akron chapter of the American Advertising Federation.

The Healing Stanza bus posters earned three Gold ADDY® Awards in the professional category for Public Service. The posters, designed by Glyphix students and part of the Traveling Stanzas project, features poems written by participants in the Wick outreach program, including local students (grades 3–12), healthcare providers, medical students, patients, and veterans.

The Healing Stanzas’ aim is to encourage dialogue about the connection between art and medicine, writing and healing. The Stanzas are currently on display in Akron METRO buses, Kent PARTA buses and the RTA system in Cleveland. Posters also appear in the Kent Starbucks and will soon be displayed in other area businesses, classrooms, libraries, and hospitals.

In addition to the bus posters, the Healing Stanzas also appears as blank greeting cards and larger posters, both of which are available for purchase at www.travelingstanzas.com. KSU students will produce digital animations of the Traveling Stanzas graphic designs, which online users can email to others.

READ WHAT THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL SAYS ABOUT THE HEALING STANZAS.

“The ADDY competition entries are judged by independent professionals in the advertising and design field who work outside of the local area,” explained Valora Renicker, Glyphix creative director. “To have them qualify the entries as worthy of the highest level award in competition with professionals substantiates the quality of the work that our students produce.”

The prominent Akron ADDY® Awards event is the first of a three-tiered national competition. The winning entries in the Akron ADDYs will automatically be forwarded to the regional level, competing in a field of 10 other regions. The District 6 ADDY® awards will be held in April. If participants win gold awards in the District 6 ADDY® contest, they move on to the national ADDY® awards held in June.

Sponsors of the Healing Stanzas project include: the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; Summa Foundation, Akron; the Poetry Foundation, Chicago; Kent State University College of Communication and Information; Kent State University School of Library and Information Science; Ohio Arts Council; RTA, Cleveland; Metro RTA, Akron; and PARTA, Kent.