Sung Kim is a winner of the 2006 “Most Promising Minority Students” competition. A senior advertising major at SMU’s Temerlin Advertising Institute, Kim was one of 51 students in the nation who received this honor.
“I’m still overwhelmed that I won this award,” said Kim. “The thing about it is that it’s a big deal in itself, but for me, meeting agencies and the other award winners was even more important. This is a huge network.”
A leading advertising industry award, the AAF’s “Most Promising Minority Students” program is designed to recognize and recruit outstanding minority college graduates in the fields of advertising, marketing, media and communications.
“Over the past 10 years, it has become increasingly imperative for corporations to broaden employee diversity,” AAF President and CEO Wally Snyder said.
“This program began in 1997 when AAF corporate members voiced a need to access qualified minority candidates for jobs in advertising. The program, managed by the AAF Mosaic Center on Multiculturalism, has provided nearly 300 minority candidates in its 10-year history by connecting recruiters with advertising students that demonstrate excellence.”
Winners attended the Building Bridges for Our Future Awards Luncheon at the New York City Athletic Club on Feb. 9 to meet with recruiters and executives from leading agencies, advertisers and media companies.
“I met a lot of people from different agencies,” said Kim. “It was great. I showed my portfolio and [the agencies] really liked it, so now I’m just waiting to hear back from them.”
While in New York, honorees were given the chance to increase their knowledge of the industry through networking, interviewing and industry immersion opportunities with industry professionals.
“[Kim] exemplifies the talent and dedication that are critical to the industry’s future, and he is a wonderful credit to our program,” said Patricia Alvey, distinguished chair and director of the Temerlin Advertising Institute.
Meadows advertising students have been honored as winners in nine of the 10 years of the AAF competition’s existence. In addition to consistently having winners among the “Most Promising Minority Students” competition, Temerlin students have won the top prize in the AAF’s National Student Advertising Competition in two of the last four years. The Temerlin Advertising Institute is nationally recognized for its undergraduate advertising program, which has been named as one of the top 10 programs in the U.S. by “New York Times” advertising columnist Stuart Elliott.
Applicants for the “Most Promising Minority Students” award must be U.S. citizens of African, Native American, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander descent and must be nominated by a faculty advisor and/or a local professional ad club. Only seniors graduating in the 2006 calendar year with a 3.25 GPA for both cumulative and major GPAs are eligible for nomination. The AAF’s Web site says honorees are chosen based on their academic standing, demonstrated interest in the advertising industry, including work experience, academic pursuits and/or extracurricular activities, leadership and character indicators such as community service, and essay content and construction.
