The Alpaca Owners Association (AOA) Student Design Competition was created to promote the use of alpaca fiber in fashion, textile and interior design at the fundamental level of educational institutions. The theme for this year's competition was Alpaca: The Earth Friendly Fiber.
The competition is divided into two categories: fashion design and textile design. Entries required a presentation board, swatches and a one-page essay.
The top entries in each category and the winning essay received cash scholarships and will be spotlighted in the award-winning nationally distributed publication Alpacas Magazine. These finalists were invited to virtually attend the Alpaca Owners Association National Education and Fiber Conference, where their entries were on display.
Finalists in the fashion design category are:
1st place -- Kittson Hamill (University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
2nd place -- Celeste Graciano (Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan.)
3rd place -- Yinan Zhang (Savannah College of Arts and Design, Savannah, Ga.)
Finalists in the textile design category are:
1st place -- Rosemary Anderson (Kent State University, Kent, Ohio)
2nd place -- Kelly Padulese Czyzewski (Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pa.)
The Student Design Competition is judged by industry professionals who will provide a critique for each entry. The scoring is based on an evaluation of individual entries rather than a comparative system.
The AOA Student Design Competition's mission is to expose college-level art, fashion, and textile design students and professors to the wonders of designing with alpaca fiber. The competition is primarily self-funded through student entry sponsorship and donations to the program by individual alpaca farms and their affiliated organizations and businesses.
To learn more about the North American alpaca industry, visit www.alpacainfo.com.
Categories: Kansas, Education, Ohio, Education, Pennsylvania, Education