Coleg Llandrillo art and design students are winners at Paris awards

The awards ceremony was held in Paris earlier this month, and Coleg Llandrillo’s A-level students were awarded the prestigious award for their remarkable work in graphic design.

Creative Arts, AS and A-level students from the Rhyl and Rhos-on-Sea college campuses beat off stiff competition to claim victory in the ‘Graphic Design/Communication Design’ student category for their end-of-term graphic communication yearbook.

Last year's yearbook features creative work by 24 students from Coleg Llandrillo.

Winners were announced in May 2021 and the awards ceremony took place six months later.

The juries examined thousands of cutting-edge designs and innovative products from around the world, all vying for the top prizes.

In recent years, the competition has risen to become one of the leading design awards events in Europe.

The DNA Paris Design Awards honours designs in the disciplines of architecture, interior design, landscape design, graphic design and products design, awarding the best designers worldwide.

The Coleg Llandrillo students produced the yearbook by utilising their digital skills using Adobe Photoshop software on Apple Macintosh iMac computers.

They captured images using scanners and digital cameras and created digital images direct to the computer screen via drawing tablets.

The college arts students’ annual end-of-year digital graphics project has a rich history in the competitive world.

Previous yearbooks have been awarded gold, silver and bronze awards by an international jury at the ‘International Design Awards’ (IDA) in California, across just a five-year period.

College tutor Dewi Hughes, who is a fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers with 40 years commercial graphic design and education experience, added: “Showcasing our creativity on the world stage is a quality experience for our students, ahead of their university experience and the world of employment.

“I would like to congratulate the whole team of students for their inspirational project.

“It has reaffirmed the international recognition for Creative Arts provision and learners that we have here at Coleg Llandrillo.”

This academic year's graphics students will be submitting an entry for the 2022 DNA Paris Design Awards competition in April 2022.

Assistant principal Paul Flanagan added: “I would like to congratulate the whole team and, of course, the learners on another outstanding achievement and competition win.

“Coleg Llandrillo is extremely proud of its outstanding facilities, reputation and competition-winning staff and learners in creative arts areas. I look forward to hearing more positive news following our 2022 entries.”

The college’s wide range of creative arts courses assist students in preparing for university education and future employment within art and design.

The courses are the first step in training as a professional artist or designer, with opportunities to explore a wide range of specialist art and design subjects.