For the third time in a row, an LCC Graphics student was awarded top honors in this year’s PICA (Printing Industry of the Carolinas) student competition for printing and graphics. Samuel Jarman of Trenton, NC won the top collegiate award for his digital printing and package design of a dentist-themed hidden message structural mailer. The top collegiate award is sponsored by NAPCO, a packaging company located in Sparta, NC, and comes with a $500 scholarship presented to the student and a $500 donation to support the Graphics program.

“Samuel never fails to impress me with his innovative take on designing a solution to a problem-based project,” said Dr. Hope Carroll, graphic instructor. “For this particular project, the students were asked to address the problem using dimensional marketing and he really stood out.”

The NAPCO award was presented during the 55th annual Printing Industries of the Carolinas (PICA) Awards presentation which was held virtually again this year this past spring. Every year PICA sponsors the PICA Student Awards competition where students can submit designed and printed entries across multiple categories to win recognition in Best of Category, Special Judges Award, and an Award of Excellence.

In addition to winning the top collegiate award, LCC Graphics students also took home the most awards (18 total) out of all colleges and universities competing. Students competed against North and South Carolina community colleges and universities, including Appalachian State University, Chowan University, and Clemson University.

LCC students were awarded five 1st Place Best of Category, five 2nd Place Special Judges, and eight 3rd Place Award of Excellence awards. LCC winners included Kari Drake, Samuel Jarman, Kylee Lamoreux, Abisai Ortiz-Hernandez, Perla Rodriguez-Gonzalez, Nimsi Ruiz-Perez, Ingrid Vasquez-Cabrera, and Evan Yarbrough.

Graphics Program Chair, Dwight Downie said that he is extremely proud that one of our students won the top collegiate award again for the third year in a row. “Sam worked really hard and put forth a tremendous amount of effort in and out of the classroom to develop a creative solutions on this project.”

Downie also said that he is extremely proud of all of the graphics students winning awards this year and for all of their hard work during this very difficult year due to the pandemic. “We are very thankful to PICA and NAPCO for providing the opportunity for our students to compete and share their work with this exciting industry,” he said.

LCC Graphics provides training opportunities in Advertising & Graphic Design and Graphic Arts & Imaging Technology in blended, hybrid, and online curriculum and workforce development classes. For more information, contact Dwight Downie at (252) 527-6223, ext. 604 or email at ddownie@lenoircc.edu.